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THE  MORRIS  LOEB  SERIES 

SAADIA  GAON 
HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


BY 

HENRY  MALTER,  Ph.  D. 

Professor  of  Rabbinical  Literature  at  the  Dropsie 
College  for  Hebrew  and  Cognate  learning 


^^ 


Philadelphia 

The  Jewish  Publication  Society  of  America 

1921 


Copyright,  1921 

BY 

The  Jewish  Publication  Society  of  America 


SAADIA  GAON 
HIS  LIFE  AND  WORKS 


Professor  Morris  Loeb,  of  New  York,  the  dis- 
tinguished chemist,  scholar  and  public  worker, 
who  died  on  October  8,  191 2,  by  his  last  Will  and 
Testament,  created  a  Fund  under  the  following 
terms :  "  I  give  and  bequeath  to  the  Jewish  Publi- 
cation Society  of  America  the  sum  of  Ten  Thou- 
sand Dollars  as  a  permanent  fund,  the  income  of 
which  alone  shall,  from  time  to  time,  be  utilized 
for  and  applied  to  the  preparation  and  publication 
of  a  scholarly  work  devoted  to  the  interests  of 
Judaism." 

The  present  volume  is  the  first  issued  under  this 
Fund. 


f65 


\A9^ 


.«n^«in«  nn  n^v:)ni  xn»5yn  «n^nD>  ^nn  nnvnn 

God  does  not  leave  His  nation  at  any  period  without 
a  scholar  whom  He  inspires  and  enlightens,  so  that  he 
in  turn  may  so  instruct  and  teach  her,  that  thereby  her 
condition  shall  be  bettered  (Saadia,  Sefer  ha-Galui). 


i;547G22 


To 

SOLOMON  SOUS  COHEN,  M.  D. 

in  token  of 

high  esteem  and  sincere  friendship 


PREFACE 

The  present  book  was  originally  designed  to  furnish  a 
biography  of  Saadia  Gaon  for  the  biographical  series  of  the 
Jewish  Publication  Society  of  America,  at  whose  request  the 
work  was  undertaken.  At  that  time,  about  six  years  ago, 
there  were  already  in  existence  (as  will  be  seen  from 
pp.  90  f.)  a  considerable  number  of  sketches  of  Saadia's  life, 
written  in  various  languages  (Hebrew,  Latin,  French,  Ger- 
man, English,  Russian,  and  Dutch)  ;  but  all  of  them  were 
based  upon  the  epoch-making  essay  of  Rapoport,  who,  writ- 
ing nearly  a  century  ago  (1828) — long  before  the  Genizah 
gave  up  its  treasures — had  at  his  disposal  only  the  scanty 
material  scattered  in  the  mediaeval  sources.  For  the  bio- 
graphical part  in  particular,  only  the  Report  of  Nathan 
ha-Babli,  the  Epistle  of  Sherira  Gaon,  and  some  additional 
remarks  by  Abraham  Ibn  Daud  were  available.  All  that 
could  be  gathered  from  these  sources  about  Saadia's  Hfe 
was  that  he  was  born  in  Egypt  in  892,  that  he  was  appointed 
Gaon  of  Sura  in  928,  was  deposed  by  the  Exilarch  David  b. 
Zakkai  and  later  reinstated  (the  deposition  and  reinstallation 
being  related  with  some  detail),  and  that  he  died  in  942. 
Rapoport's  biography,  if  it  may  be  so  called,  consists  there- 
fore, chiefly  of  learned  notes  dealing  with  Saadia's  writings, 
so  far  as  these  were  accessible  to  him  or  known  from  quota- 
tions. Subsequent  writers  on  Saadia  followed  Rapoport's 
example,  adding  nothing  to  the  Gaon's  biography,  but  enter- 
ing more  fully  upon  the  description  and  characterization  of 
his  teachings. 

Even  after  the  new  material  of  the  Genizah  had  come  to 
light,  scholars  concerned  themselves  in  the  main  with  the 
identification  of  the  various  fragments  of  Saadia's  works 


10  PREFACE 

and  the  analysis  of  their  contents.  Incidentally  attention 
was  called  also  to  new  historical  facts  contained  in  some  of 
the  fragments,  but  no  attempt  was  made  to  interrelate  these 
facts  and  to  combine  the  isolated  data  into  a  general  picture 
of  Saadia's  life.  Even  the  fragments  relating  to  the  Ben 
Meir  controversy,  so  important  for  our  knowledge  concern- 
ing Saadia's  movements  in  the  East,  have  been  considered 
more  in  their  bearings  upon  the  question  of  calendar,  than  in 
their  relation  to  Saadia. 

For  the  purpose  of  writing  a  biography  this  material  was 
rather  discouraging.  It  seemed  that  any  attempt  to  draw 
a  complete  picture  of  Saadia's  life  on  the  basis  of  the  few 
disconnected  biographical  data  which  had  so  far  been 
utilized  would  prove  fruitless,  and  that,  instead,  one  should 
devote  every  effort  to  a  full  description  of  the  Gaon's  works 
and  a  systematic  presentation  of  his  doctrines.  However, 
in  order  to  get  a  more  definite  view  of  the  subject  it  was 
necessary  to  submit  the  entire  material  of  the  old,  as  well 
as  of  the  newly  discovered,  sources  to  a  careful  reexamina- 
tion ;  to  correlate  the  widely  scattered  details ;  and  to  try  to 
interpret  them  in  the  light  of  already  established  facts. 
After  repeated  study  of  certain  Genizah  fragments,  hitherto 
partly  ignored  and  partly  misinterpreted,  new  points  of 
view  gradually  revealed  themselves  and  fresh  combinations 
appealed  for  consideration.  Finally,  after  much  sifting  and 
analyzing,  grouping  and  classifying  of  the  collected  details, 
the  subject  of  our  investigation  stood  out  in  rehef .  For  here 
was  Saadia,  the  man,  with  his  human  faults  and  virtues,  his 
passions  and  convictions,  his  sufferings  and  rejoicings,  vic- 
tories and  defeats.  His  entire  life  opened  before  us  and  we 
could  follow  his  career  almost  without  interruption.  At 
times  we  were  also  granted  a  glimpse  into  his  family  affairs 
and  his  personal  relations  with  his  pupils. 

At  first  the  plan  suggested  itself,  to  use  all  this  biographical 
material  as  external  framework— as  the  convenient  setting 
to  what  is  after  all  the  most  important  aspect  of  Saadia's 
life,   namely,  the  scientific  work   which   he  bequeathed  to 


PREFACE  II 

posterity.  Such  disposition  of  the  material  would  have  had 
the  advantage  of  enabling  us  to  follow  step  by  step  the  intel- 
lectual growth  and  development  of  Saadia,  as  he  advanced 
in  years  and  maturity.  Upon  closer  examination,  however, 
this  arrangement  did  not  appear  feasible,  since  our  knowledge 
of  the  various  writings  of  Saadia  is  not  of  a  nature  to  warrant 
definite  conclusions  regarding  their  chronological  order. 
Moreover,  the  combined  treatment  of  Saadia's  life  and 
works  under  such  a  plan  would  have  required  a  volume 
far  exceeding  the  limits  set  for  the  biographical  series  of 
the  Jewish  Publication  Society. 

I  had  therefore  decided  to  treat  of  Saadia's  life  inde- 
pendently of  his  works,  and  to  leave  the  presentation  of  his 
literary  activity  for  a  separate  volume.  The  Committee  of 
the  Jewish  Publication  Society,  however,  upon  receiving 
the  manuscript  of  the  biography  in  the  form  in  which  it 
appears  in  the  present  volume,  did  not  deem  it  advisable  to 
issue  a  biography  of  Saadia  without  including  between  the 
same  covers  an  adequate  appreciation  of  his  writings.  More- 
over, it  was  desired  to  preserve  the  footnotes,  which  are  not 
exactly  suited  for  a  purely  popular  sketch.  To  solve  the 
difficulty  it  was  considered  best  to  have  the  two  parts  pub- 
lished together  as  the  first  volume  in  the  scientific  series  of 
the  Morris  Loeb  Foundation. 

This  method  had  some  drawbacks.  By  dividing  the  mate- 
rial into  two  distinct  parts  repetitions  have  in  several  in- 
stances become  inevitable.  Thus  a  work  like  the  'Agron, 
in  itself  of  comparatively  little  importance,  but  of  special 
significance  for  our  understanding  of  Saadia's  earlier  edu- 
cation, had  to  be  discussed  in  more  than  one  connection, 
each  time  from  a  different  viewpoint.  Similarly,  some  of 
the  other  works,  as  the  Commentary  *  on  the  Sefer  Yezirah, 
the  Sefer  ha-Galui,  and  the  'Emfinot  zve-Deot,  had  to  be 
taken  up  for  discussion  in  the  biography.     For  no  matter 

*  Throughout  this  volume  commentary  is  spelt  with  a  capital  when, 
as  in  the  case  before  us,  it  forms  part  of  the  title  of  the  Hebrew  or 
Arabic  work  referred  to. 


12  PREFACE 

under  what  aspect  the  Hfe  of  a  scholar  and  author  is  viewed, 
it  cannot  be  entirely  detached  from  his  works.  On  the 
whole,  however,  an  earnest  effort  has  been  made  to  avoid 
such  repetitions  as  much  as  possible. 

In  an  exhaustive  work  on  Saadia  it  might  further  be 
expected  that  the  general  characterization  of  his  achieve- 
ments in  the  various  branches  of  learning  would  be  illus- 
trated by  numerous  details  and  quotations  from  the  respec- 
tive works.  This  would  seem  especially  desirable  in  the 
section  dealing  with  Saadia's  Bible  exegesis,  although  the 
most  important  features  of  his  work  in  this  line  have  been 
repeatedly  discussed  by  numerous  modern  authors.  How- 
ever, the  field  of  Bible  exegesis  is  so  immense  and  Saadia's 
contributions  to  it  so  manifold,  that  their  elaborate  discussion 
would  have  required  a  special  monograph.  Here  was  a 
case  of  dknde  et  impera!  The  brief  summarizing  exposition 
touches  on  the  main  features  of  Saadia's  exegesis,  and  the 
numerous  references  to  old  and  new  sources,  as  given  in  the 
notes  and  the  Bibliography,  will  do  the  rest. 

Some  inconsistencies  will  be  noticed  in  the  transHteration 
of  Hebrew  and  Arabic  names,  titles  of  books,  etc.  It  was 
not  thought  necessary  in  all  instances  to  burden  the  print 
with  the  devices  used  in  technical  works  in  the  endeavor 
to  represent  the  exact  sounds  of  the  Oriental  words.  The 
exceptions,  however,  are  comparatively  few  and  mostly  in 
common  and  frequently  recurring  words,  as  Ihn,  Tafsir,  All, 
Galui,  Zikron,  Genizah,  and  the  like.  Proper  names  occur- 
ring in  the  Bible,  as  Anan,  Berechiah,  Hophni,  Nahshon,  etc., 
are  reproduced  without  diacritical  points,  as  they  are  found  in 
the  English  versions.  Titles  of  books  very  frequently  re- 
ferred to  are  reproduced  in  full  only  when  quoted  for  the 
first  time.  In  subsequent  passages  they  are  given  in  some 
shortened  form,  as  Beitrdge  (Dukes,  Eppenstein,  Jellinek), 
Anfdnge  (Bacher),  or  in  abbreviations,  as  AL  (Stein- 
schneider),  and  the  like.  In  some  instances  the  name  of  the 
author  was  deemed  sufficient,  as  Bornstein,  Lazarus,  etc.,  the 


PREFACE  13 

reader  being  expected  to  revert,  in  case  of  doubt,  to  the 
appended  List  of  Abbreviated  Titles  (p.  429).  In  these 
matters,  too,  various  inconsistencies  came  to  my  notice  while 
revising  the  proofs,  but  it  appeared  too  cumbersome  to  restore 
absolute  uniformity  in  quotation. 

A  word  must  be  added  about  the  '  BibHography.'  The 
title  is  somewhat  misleading  and  may  needlessly  frighten 
away  the  reader ;  but  it  has  been  adopted  in  the  absence  of  a 
better  short  title  equally  convenient  for  repeated  reference. 
This  section  of  the  work  really  represents  an  attempt  at  a 
critical  history  of  the  entire  Saadia  literature.  I  cherish  the 
hope  that  any  student  who  in  the  course  of  his  reading  has 
become  interested  in  some  of  the  branches  of  learning  here 
presented,  will  welcome  the  help  he  may  receive  from  it. 
The  general  reader,  too,  while  not  prepared  to  go  into  literary 
details,  may  find  it  gratifying  to  learn,  by  a  glance  through 
these  pages,  of  the  extraordinary  attention  the  great  Gaon 
has  commanded  throughout  the  ages,  and  the  amazing 
amount  of  intellectual  work  that  has  been  done  by  Jews  and 
Christians  in  editing  and  translating,  describing  and  eluci- 
dating his  numerous  writings. 

In  conclusion,  I  desire  to  express  my  profound  gratitude 
to  Miss  Henrietta  Szold,  who,  despite  her  manifold  com- 
munal and  literary  activities,  generously  consented  to  go 
over  the  entire  manuscript,  to  assist  in  putting  it  into  final 
shape  for  publication.  Apart  from  this  general  editorial 
work,  which  was  no  small  task,  she  has  made  ever  so  many 
valuable  suggestions  in  various  directions,  by  which  the 
work  has  greatly  profited.  I  am  under  special  obligation  to 
my  friend.  Dr.  Solomon  Solis  Cohen,  who,  in  addition  to 
many  personal  kindnesses,  has  taken  the  greatest  interest 
in  the  present  work.  In  a  genuine  spirit  of  friendhness  he 
has  given  much  of  his  precious  time  to  a  painstaking  re- 
vision of  the  proofs,  and,  with  his  enviable  mastery  of 
English,  removed,  as  by  a  touch  of  magic,  many  uneven- 
nesses  in  style  and  diction  that  had  escaped  my  notice.  He 
also  was  kind  enou2:h  to  furnish  a  translation  of  one  of 


14  PREFACE 

Saadia's  poems  (see  p.  337).  My  thanks  are  also  due  to  my 
colleague  and  friend,  Prof.  Alexander  Marx,  of  the  Jewish 
Theological  Seminary  of  America,  who  greatly  assisted  my 
efforts  with  his  rare  bibliographic  knowledge  and  placed  at 
my  disposal  a  large  number  of  books,  some  very  rare,  from 
his  rich  private  library. 

Philadelphia,  Henry  Malter. 

July,  ip2o. 


INTRODUCTION 

At  the  outset  of  his  task  the  historian  or  biographer  has 
to  decide  how  he  will  envisage  the  broad  problem  presented. 
Shall  he  view  the  idea  or  the  fact  as  the  impelling  force  in 
human  history?  Are  events  born  of  ideas,  or  are  ideas  the 
necessary  outcome  of  conditions?  Do  circumstances  shape 
the  individual,  or  does  the  individual  compel  circumstance? 
The  first  view  may  be  designated  as  the  genetic,  or  real- 
istic, conception  of  history ;  the  second,  as  the  ideahstic  con- 
ception. 

In  a  measure  it  is  true  that  neither  of  the  two  factors, 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  other,  is  the  sole  creative  force  in 
human  history.  The  real  point  to  be  determined  is  as  to  which 
of  them  should  be  given  the  greater  prominence  in  presenting 
and  interpreting  historical  phenomena.  The  prevailing  and, 
it  would  seem,  correct  view,  is  that  the  individual  whose 
influence  in  shaping  events  may  appear  to  be  paramount  at 
a  certain  period  of  the  world's  development,  enters  the  arena 
as  a  genuine  product  of  surrounding  conditions,  subject  to 
all  the  laws  of  evolution  by  which  other  mortals  are  gov- 
erned. Only  gradually,  the  exceptional  genius  frees  himself 
from  the  common  shackles.  He  rises  above  his  environ- 
ment and  takes  the  guidance  of  history  into  his  own  hands. 

The  first  requirement,  therefore,  in  presenting  the  life 
and  work  of  such  a  genius,  is  to  ascertain  and  depict  the  con- 
ditions that  furnished  the  basis  for  the  later  developed  indi- 
viduality. It  is  the  only  way  of  accounting  for  what  seems 
in  the  beginning  to  be  entirely  out  of  harmony  with  the 
general  laws  of  causation. 

SaadiaAl-Fayyumi  is  not  to  be  classed  among  these  highest 
geniuses  of  the  world ;  but  his  greatness  is  so  real,  and  so 
individual  in  its  quality,  that  he  cannot  be  fully  explained  as 
a  necessary  product  of  his  time  and  surroundings.  Never- 
theless, it  is  needful  to  investigate  the  conditions  of  his 
earlier  life,  his  education  and  his  family  relations,  which 

15 


i6  INTRODUCTION 

must  have  contributed  importantly  toward  making  him  the 
founder  of  a  new  epoch  in  Jewish  history  and  Hterature. 

Unfortunately  there  is  not  enough  material  at  hand  to 
allow  us  to  form  a  trustworthy  opinion  of  the  circumstances 
of  our  hero's  earlier  life.  Nor  are  the  historical  records  of 
the  Jews  in  Egypt  during  the  age  of  Saadia  such  that  we 
can  with  certainty  establish  the  influences  at  play  in  the 
shaping  of  that  great  individuality  during  the  years  of 
growth  and  development.  The  period  in  question  is  repre- 
sented in  Jewish  annals  by  an  almost  blank  page,  and  there 
is  but  little  hope  that  the  page  v^rill  ever  be  written  upon, 
unless  the  Genizah  furnishes  new  material. 

Not  even  legend,'  the  graceful  substitute  for  stern  his- 
tory, has  shown  itself  kind  enough  to  Saadia  to  crown  his 
personality  with  a  wreath  of  poetry  and  beauty,  such  as  it 
fashioned  for  not  a  few  of  the  great  men  of  the  Jewish  people 
before  and  after  him.  The  man  who  was  to  inaugurate  a 
new  era  in  Jewish  learning  and  literature  springs  out  of  the 
darkness  to  light  the  torch  of  reason  in  the  gloom-encom- 
passed camp  of  his  brethren,  and,  his  mission  performed, 
darkness  again  engulfs  him;  for  according  to  the  records 
Saadia  died  "in  melancholia."  No  poet  is  known  to  have 
sung  the  praises  of  the  departed  leader ;  no  elegist  has  given 
expression  to  the  grief  and  sorrow  that  must  have  overtaken 
Babylonian  Israel  at  the  untimely  death  of  the  greatest  Gaon  ; 
no  .chronicler  has  left  us  even  a  prosaic  account  of  the  events 
immediately  before  and  after  this  turning-point  in  the 
history  of  the  ancient  academy  of  Sura.  The  only  fact 
that  has  been  preserved  is  that  a  successor  was  installed, 
who  failed  to  keep  alive  the  orphaned  institution ;  for  with 
the  death  of  Saadia,  the  Gaon,  the  Gaonate  virtually  ceased 
to  be.' 

^  See  below,  chapter  viii. 

*  It  is  true  that  about  fifty  years  after  the  death  of  Saadia  the  Sura 
academy  was  reopened  under  the  presidency  of  R.  Samuel  b.  Hophni, 
but  the  institution  never  regained  the  rank  it  occupied  under  Saadia. 
Its  very  existence  was  made  possible  only  through  the  close  family 
relations  that  were  established  between  Samuel  b.  Hophni  and  the 
Gaon  Hai  of  Pumbedita  (see  below,  note  281).    Almost  no  Responsa 


INTRODUCTION  17 

But  though  no  definite  information  can  be  obtained  with 
regard  to  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  Saadia's  career,  we 
are  much  more  fortunate  when  we  approach  the  main  period 
of  his  Hfe,  a  period  that  covered  only  about  twenty-five  years. 
During  that  time  he  put  out  one  book  after  the  other — 
deahng  sharp  blows  to  Karaism  and  the  other  enemies  of 
traditional  Judaism ;  translating,  commenting,  and  eluci- 
dating the  Bible  and  the  Talmud ;  collecting  and  composing- 
hymns  and  prayers ;  and  writing  the  first  philosophical  Com- 
mentary on  one  of  the  most  puzzling  mystical  works  in  Jew- 
ish Hterature.  It  was  while  engaged  in  this  fruitful  literary 
work  that  he  was  unexpectedly  called  to  the  highest  position 
in  the  gift  of  tenth  century  Jewry.  Soon  tliereafter  we  see 
him  in  a  bitter  struggle  with  the  mighty  Exilarch,  the  tem- 
poral head  of  the  Babylonian  Jews.  Deposition  and  retire- 
ment into  private  life;  the  appearance  of  his  magnum  opus, 
the  first  philosophical  presentation  of  Judaism  since  Philo ; 
reconciliation  with  his  enemies  and  re-installation  in  the  office 
of  Gaon, — all  these  events  follow  in  rapid  succession,  and 
reveal  to  our  eyes  a  man  of  astounding  force  and  untiring 
energy ;  a  life  short  when  measured  in  years,  but  crowded 
with  occurrences  of  tremendous  import  for  the  subsequent 
history  of  the  Jewish  people. 

Such  is,  in  brief,  the  story  of  Saadia  Gaon,  the  details  of 
which  occupy  the  following  chapters. 

As  noted,  the  first  twenty  years  and  more  of  Saadia's 
life,  the  years  most  essential  in  shaping  character  and  indi- 
viduality, are  wrapped  in  obscurity.  A  complete  biography 
is  therefore  impossible.  However,  the  manuscript  material 
brought  to  light  within  the  last  two  decades  contains  vari- 
ous details  which,  when  properly  correlated,  enable  us  to 
fill  some  of  the  gaps  in  our  knowledge  of  Saadia's  career 
and  to  give  an  authentic  account  of  certain  important  hap- 
penings hitherto  unknown.     For  instance,  on  the  basis  of 

exist  of  Samuel  b.  Hophni,  who  had  otherwise  written  extensively  on 
various  subjects,  which  also  indicates  that  under  his  Gaonate  the 
Jews  of  the  Diaspora  did  not  turn  to  Sura  for  legal  and  religious 
advice,  but  to  the  more  important  academy  of  Pumbcdita. 


i8  INTRODUCTION 

a  new  and,  it  would  seem,  plausible  interpretation  of  some 
Genizah  documents,  we  gain  valuable  information  about 
Saadia's  family  relations,  the  causes  that  induced  him  to 
leave  his  native  country,  his  travels,  and  his  connection  with 
the  academy  of  Sura  prior  to  his  election  as  Gaon. 

For  full  appreciation  of  Saadia's  life  and  work  we  should 
know  the  condition  of  the  Egyptian  Jews  during  the  ninth 
century ;  that  is  to  say,  the  social  and  intellectual  atmosphere 
in  which  the  future  Gaon  grew  up.  Here  again  the  few 
details  at  our  command  have  not  been  derived  from  the 
commonly  known  Jewish  and  general  sources ;  it  has  been 
necessary  to  cull  them  from  recently  unearthed,  fragmentary 
documents.  And  valuable  as  they  are,  they  are  not  direct 
information ;  they  only  afford  a  basis  for  certain  inferences. 
Therefore,  so  far  as  concerns  Saadia's  surroundings  during 
his  formative  period,  we  must  confine  ourselves  to  general  re- 
marks showing  the  points  of  contact  between  the  culture  and 
learning  which  we  later  find  represented  in  Saadia,  and  the 
culture  and  learning  of  his  immediate  predecessors  and  con- 
temporaries. An  attempt  at  a  more  detailed  description  of 
the  various  channels  through  which  Saadia  received  the 
many-sided  education  that  made  it  possible  for  him  to  be- 
come the  highest  exponent  of  Jewish  culture  in  the  Orient 
would  lose  itself  in  vague  hypotheses,  adventurous  rather 
than  informative. 

The  facts  about  Saadia's  early  training  and  education, 
and  to  some  extent  also  the  cause  of  his  emigration  from 
Egypt,  must  thus  remain  a  matter  of  speculation.  Happily, 
we  are  better  informed  about  his  life  and  activity  during 
the  many  years  of  his  sojourn  in  the  East,  prior  to  his 
installation  as  Gaon  (928).  This  information  likewise 
comes  to  us  through  the  documents  that  are  continually 
cropping  up  from  the  famous  Egyptian  Genizah.  Nearly 
all  of  these  documents  relate  to  what  is  called  the  Ben  Meir 
controversy, — a  controversy  in  which  Saadia  played  the  most 
important  part,  and  which  therefore  forms  an  essential  por- 
tion of  his  biography.  But  it  is  only  when  we  approach  the 
last  period  of  Saadia's  life,  beginning  with  his  election  to 


INTRODUCTION  19 

the  Gaonate,  that  the  sources  of  information  flow  more 
abundantly,  and  our  knowledge  of  the  Gaon  becomes  more 
adequate.  It  is  thus  in  keeping  with  the  literary  material 
at  hand  that  the  period  covering  Saadia's  experiences  in 
the  Gaonate  (the  period  which  hitherto  has  constituted  the 
whole  of  Saadia's  biography)  is  treated  here  with  more 
detail  than  the  others. 

Welcome,  however,  as  a  complete  knowledge  of  the  cir- 
cumstances of  Saadia's  earlier  life  would  be,  both  to  the  biog- 
rapher and  the  student,  the  absence  of  such  information  is,  in 
this  case,  less  deplorable  than  in  that  of  other  eminent 
persons.  Saadia's  historical  importance,  as  an  official  per- 
sonage, as  the  religious  head  and  representative  of  Baby- 
lonian Jewry  and,  in  part,  of  the  Jews  in  European  coun- 
tries, is  undeniably  great.  But  he  appeals  to  our  interest 
less  through  his  powerful  individuality  as  a  public  leader 
and  uncompromising  fighter  for  his  cherished  ideas  and 
principles,  than  through  his  scholarly  attainments — through 
the  literary  monuments  left  to  posterity  in  nearly  all 
branches  of  Jewish  learning  and  literature.  Our  con- 
cern is  therefore  primarily  with  Saadia  the  scholar  and  in- 
vestigator ;  the  pioneer  and  pathfinder  in  the  field  of  Jewish 
science;  the  linguist,  grammarian,  lexicographer  and  exe- 
gete;  the  Talmudist  and  the  philosopher — in  brief,  the  first 
scientific  expounder  of  Biblical  and  traditional  Judaism. 

But  is  this  not  exactly  what  we  should  expect  in  a  work 
on  the  life  of  a  great  man  in  the  history  of  the  Jewish 
people?  History  in  its  last  analysis  is  mind  material- 
ized, thought  transformed  into  action.  In  this  sense  the 
Jews  of  the  Diaspora,  taken  as  a  whole,  had  no  history ; 
for  they  had  little  opportunity  to  act,  they  were  every- 
where acted  upon.  Their  story  is  therefore  not  the  account 
of  a  people's  national  and  political  activity,  but  that  of 
human  patience  and  endurance.  From  another  point  of 
view,  too,  the  history  of  the  Jews  difiFers  from  that  of 
any  other  nation.  The  history  of  a  people  revolves,  for 
the  most  part,  around  its  great  men,  who  by  their  powerful 
individuality  give  direction  to  its  destiny ;  the  Jewish  people, 


20  INTRODUCTION 

having  been  deprived  of  all  temporal  power,  had  no  such 
career  to  offer  to  those  of  its  sons  who,  by  virtue  of  extra- 
ordinary natural  gifts,  were  qualified  for  leadership  in 
the  great  movements  of  national  life.  The  gifted  person- 
alities among  the  Jews  spent  themselves,  with  few  excep- 
tions, in  the  effort  to  acquire  learning,  sacred  and  secular. 
Essentially,  Jewish  history  is  a  record  of  scholars  and  their 
literary  productions,  with  the  emphasis  laid  on  the  latter. 
It  is  a  history  of  learning  more  than  of  living,  of  literature 
rather  than  of  affairs. 

It  is  thus  in  keeping  with  the  general  character  of  Jewish 
history  that  the  biography  of  Saadia  should  primarily  be  a 
record  of  his  literary  achievements  and  of  his  spiritual  in- 
fluence. Much  space  must  therefore  be  devoted  to  the  pres- 
entation of  his  teachings  in  the  various  departments  of 
Jewish  learning  of  which  he  was  the  founder.  In  the  field  of 
religious  philosophy  and  ethics  vSaadia's  theories  are  to  be 
detached  from  all  that  is  incidental  or,  from  our  point  of 
view,  unessential,  so  that  his  general  attitude  and  his 
basic  system  of  religion  may  come  out  clearly.  A  brief 
characterization  of  the  Gaon's  standing  in  the  estimation  of 
later  ages  and  of  the  importance  attributed  to  his  works  by 
Jewish  medieval  authors,  concludes  the  presentation. 

In  order  to  give  the  student  of  Saadia  all  the  informa- 
tion he  may  have  occasion  to  look  for  in  the  course  of  his 
inquiries,  an  exhaustive  bibliography  is  necessary,  not  only 
of  the  writings  of  the  Gaon  himself,  but  also  of  the  vast 
literature,  reaching  down  to  the  present  time,  in  which 
Saadia  or  his  writings  form  the  main  subject  of  discus- 
sion. Aside  from  this  practical  purpose,  the  immensity 
of  this  Saadia  literature  in  the  various  fields  of  research 
will  make  the  reader  realize  at  a  glance,  perhaps  better 
than  any  description,  the  great  significance  of  the  man 
whose  life  and  works  were  the  origin  and  source  of  so 
much  scholarly  activity  in  generations  past  and  present,  and 
may  stimulate  him  to  enter  upon  the  same  field  and  con- 
tinue the  chain  of  Saadia  students  for  the  furtherance  and 
promotion  of  Jewish  learning  and  literature. 


CONTENTS 

PAGES 

Preface    „  ^ . 

Introduction    14-20 

PART  I.    LIFE  OF  SAADIA  GAON 

CHAPTER  A.  The  First  Period  of  Saadia's  Life 

I.  Origin  and  Family  Relations 25-31 

II.  Saadia's  Early  Education   32.52 

B.  The  Second  Period 

III.  Saadia's  Emigration  to  the  East 53-68 

IV.  Saadia's  Controversy  with  Ben  Meir 60-88 

V.  Saadia's  Appointment  to  the  Gaonate 89-134 

PART  n.    THE  WORKS  OF  SAADIA  GAON 
VI.  Saadia's  Works: 

1.  Philology 

a.  Grammar  and  Lexicography 137-141 

b.  Biblical  Exegesis 141-146 

2.  Liturgy    ...146-157 

3.  PIalakah   157-167 

4.  Calendar   '.....16S-171 

5.  Chronology    171-173 

6.  Philosophy     '.'.'.!.".  ^".  .174-260 

7.  Polemical  Works 260-271 

VII.  Saadia's  Influence  on  Later  Generations 272-295 

VIII.  Legends  About  Saadia 296-302 

PART  III.    BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1.  Prefatory  Note 305-306 

2.  Philology ..!.'.'.'.!'..* '.306-329 

3-  Liturgy     ^2^_^^^ 

4.  Halakah   ^^^_^^^ 

5.  Calendar  and  Chronology 351-355 

6.  Philosophy  .'.''*'.***.*!  ^355-380 

7.  Polemics    380-394 

8.  Works  of  Uncertain  Description 394-403 

9.  Spurious  Works  403-405 

10.  Works  Erroneously  Attributed  to  Saadia.  ...405-409 

11.  The  Documents  on  the  Ben  Meir  CoNTRovERSY.409-419 

^^^-^^CRi^-^ 421-428 

Addenda    o 

List  of  Abbreviations 429 

Indices  .0,  .  .< 

431-446 


PART  I 
LIFE  OF  SAADIA  GAON 


THE  FIRST  PERIOD  OF  SAADIA'S  LIFE 
(4652-4675=892-915) 

Chapter  I 

ORIGIN  AND  FAMILY  RELATIONS 

Saadia'  was   born,   in  the  year   892,   in   the  village   of 

"  The  Hebrew  form  of  this  name  is,  like  that  of  similar  names 
occurring  in  the    Bible    {e.    g.,    n^lV^^    ,nnntJ^),    nnyt?,    or   fuller 
innyp,  not  innyp,  as  Harkavy,   D'>J1K'5<1^  in!)T,  etc.   (hereafter 
quoted    briefly:     Zikron),   V,    162,    164,   and   Bacher,  JE.,  X,   579, 
have  it   (but  comp.  Vt^'lVO).    This  form  of  the  name  is  proved  by 
rhymes  found  in  MSS.,  where  the  metre  positively  requires  it;  comp. 
D.  S.  Margoliouth,  Lines  of  Defense  of  the  Biblical  Revelation,  Lon- 
don, 1900,  p.  41,  n.  i;  Renan,  Les  ecrivains  Juifs  Frangais  (reprint 
from  Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France,  Vol.  XXXI),  p.  155    (501); 
Steinschneider,  Arabische  Literatur,  p.  40.  The  correct  transliteration 
is  therefore  Se'adiah  which  is,  indeed,  adopted  by  some  recent  schol- 
ars, as  by  Margoliouth,  /.  c;  comp.  JQR.,  XIII,  158,  no.  6,  and  Cowley, 
Catalogue  of  the  Hebrew  MSS.  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  II,  s.  v.    I 
have  preferred,  however,  to  retain  the  old  traditional  form  of  trans- 
literation, for  after  all  the  form  employed  for  the  sake  of  the  metre 
may  have  been  merely  theoretical,  and  is  no  proof  that  the  name  was 
generally  so  pronounced.     Grammatically  nnVD  stands  for  nnVD^ 
being  the  (shortened)  imperfect  of  the  verb  TVD,  to  support,  and  the 
noun  n"'  =God,  meaning  " may  God  support"  (the  bearer  of  the  name). 
Sometimes  the  word  Pl^   is  supplanted  by  ^X  =  God,  giving  the  same 
meaning  (comp.  n"*JJn  =  ^X3Jn).     Thus  the  Gaon  is  called  ^t^TVD 
by    Moses    Ibn    Ezra,    JQR.,    X,    224;    JR.,    s.    v.    Saadia.      This 
form,    however,    was    used    as    a   proper    name    mainly    among    the 
Karaites.      In    Arabic    Saadia    called    himself    Sa'id    which    means 
fortunate.      A    rhetorical    description    of    the    Hebrew    language, 
representing  a  part   of    Saadia's   earliest  known  work,   the  'Agron 
(Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  52),  gives  the  double  acrostic  ^DV   p  "l"'yD, 
similarly   in   his   hymn   on   the   613   precepts    (ed.   Joel    Miiller,   in 
Oeuvres  completes  de  Saadia,  IX,  67  ff. ;  comp.  ibidem,  p.  xxi)  and 
in  his  'Azharot     (D'JIDIP    D^J1N:i     n^    ^^Vl2    niP.   Berlin,    1857, 
pp.  52  ff.),  as  well  as  in  his  Polemic  against  Hiwi,  edited  by  Davidson, 
New  York,  1915,  pp.  34  f. ;  comp.  Bacher,  REJ.,  XXXV,  291.    Occa- 

25 


26  SAADIA  GAON 

Dilaz/  in  the  district  of  Fayyum,  Upper  Egypt.    He  seems  to 

sionally  Saadia  is  called  also  "'^VDn,  the  Egyptian  (Dukes,  Beitrdge, 
II,  i6),  perhaps  also  "'JQVn  jl  with  allusion  to  njyQ  DJDV  (Gen., 
41,  45),  the  name  of  his  father  being  likewise  Joseph;  see  Harkavy, 
MIVJ.,  V,  26. 

According  to  Steinschneider,  JQR.,  XI,  327,  the  Hebrew  name  by 
which  Saadia  called  himself  in  a  later  work,  the  Sefer  ha-Galui 
(Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  p.  163,  last  line;  165,  11.  6,  10),  was  the  original, 
of  which  the  Arabic  Said  was  the  translation.  Bacher  (Rivista 
Israelitica,  II,  46;  comp.  JE.,  X,  579),  on  the  other  hand,  thinks  that 
the  Hebrew  name  is  an  artificial  equivalent  of  the  original  Arabic 
Sa'id,  which  view  seems  to  me  the  more  probable.  This  is  certainly 
the  case  with  Saadia's  Hebrew  by-name  "'Din''Dn,  which  was  sub- 
stituted for  the  original  Al-Fayyumi,  i.  e.,  of  Fayyum  (comp.  Geiger 
Wissenschaftliche  Zeitschrift,  V,  314,  note),  perhaps  because  of  the 
phonetic  resemblance  of  the  two  words,  or  more  probably  because  the 
Gaon  himself  (as  also  Muhammedan  writers ;  comp.  Steinschneider, 
JQR.,  XI,  588,  no.  580)  in  his  Arabic  translation  of  the  Bible  renders 
the  Biblical  Dnp  (Exod.  i,  11)  by  DVD,  though  modern  research  has 
proved  that  the  Biblical  Pitom  is  situated  in  Lower  Egypt  and  there- 
fore cannot  be  identical  with  the  Fayyum,  which  is  in  Upper  Egypt. 
It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  Saadia  liked  to  render  Hebrew  words  and 
proper  names  by  Arabic  equivalents  of  similar  sound,  even  when  he 
knew  that  they  had  nothing  in  common  but  the  sound ;  see  the  refer- 
ences given  by  Taubeles,  Saadia  Gaon,  Halle  1888,  p.  2y,  n.  7,  espe- 
cially W.  Engelkemper,  De  Saadiae  Gaonis  Vita  etc.,  Miinster,  1897, 
p.  7,  n.  3.  Frankl  (Monatsschrift,  1871,  p.  355)  takes  the  untenable 
view  that  ""^Din^Q  is  a  derivation  from  PiriD,  meaning  "deceiver," 
and  was  originally  given  to  Saadia  by  his  adversaries  with  the  purpose 
of  vilifying  him.  Were  this  true  it  would  be  highly  improbable 
that  all  the  Hebrew  authors  who  quote  the  Gaon  reverentially  with  the 
adjective  Pitomi  should  have  been  unaware  of  its  disparaging  mean- 
ing. When  the  Karaite  Sahl  b.  Mazliah  (960)  in  an  Epistle  published 
by  Pinsker  (DV JIOIp  ""DIP^  II,  36)  refers  to  Saadia  as  "  the  Pitomi 
who  deceived  (patah)  the  people,"  he  simply  plays  on  the  by-name 
Pitomi  by  which  Saadia  was  already  known. 

For  completeness'  sake  it  may  be  added  that  the  Arabic  historian 
Al-Mas  udi,  quoted  below,  note  20,  calls  Saadia  "  Said  Ibn  Ja'kiib," 
which  is,  perhaps  to  be  changed  into  Ibn  AM  Ja'kub,  in  which  form 
it  is  the  by-name  (kunya)  of  Joseph;  see  for  this  matter  Stein- 
schneider, JQR.,  IX,  622,  Arab,  Literatur,  p.  46. 

*The  information  that  Saadia  was  born  in  Dilaz  is  found  first  in 
a  controversial  letter  of  Saadia's  opponent  known  only  under  the 


ORIGIN  AND  FAMILY  RELATIONS  27 

have  been  of  humble  parentage,  his  father,  Joseph,  probably 
deriving-  his  livelihood  from  some  trade.  If  we  are  to  put 
credence  in  certain  contemporary  sources,  Saadia's  father 
was  successively  or  simultaneously  a  butcher,  a  barber,  a 
leech,"*  and  a  muezzin/  For  some  reason  not  stated  in  these 
sources  he  was  exiled  from  Egypt  and  died  in  Jaffa/  The 
same  documents  assert  that  Saadia  was  not  of  Hebrew  ori- 
gin; that  his  parents  were  descendants  of  Egyptians  of  the 
village  of  Dilaz  who  had  been  converted  to  Judaism.  It 
would  in  no  wise  be  derogatory  to  Saadia  if  any  of  these  as- 
sertions, or  all  of  them,  proved  to  be  true.  The  employ- 
ment of  a  man,  if  pursued  honestly,  detracts  nothing  from 
his  personal  worth,  nor  would  the  fact  that  his  ancestors 
happened  to  be  proselytes  lessen  in  any  degree  our  recogni- 

name  Ben  Meir.  The  letter  was  written  in  the  winter  of  921-22,  and 
was  published  first  by  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  213-220;  see  particularly 
ib.,  p.  216,  line  i.  Ben  Meir  repeats  the  same  in  a  second  letter  written 
in  the  summer  of  the  same  year  and  published  first  by  Schechter, 
JQR.,  XIV,  56  ff.,  and  in  Saadyana,  Cambridge,  1903,  p.  20;  see  ib., 
line  6.  Both  letters  were  republished  with  numerous  corrections  and 
notes  by  H.  J.  Bornstein  in  the  Sefer  ha-Jobel  in  honor  of  N.  Soko- 
low,  later  in  a  separate  volume  under  the  title  jINi  nnVD  21  DP^HD, 
I^KD  pi  Warsaw,  1904.  In  the  following  notes  I  shall  refer  to  the 
pages  of  this  important  work  in  its  separate  edition  only.  For  the 
matter  under  discussion  see  ib.,  pp.  50,  90.  Another  opponent  of 
Saadia,  Aaron  Sarjada,  later  Gaon  of  Pumbedita,  also  refers  to 
Saadia  disparagingly  as  a  "  Dilazian  gentile  " ;  see  Harkavy,  /.  c,  p. 
234,  1.  15.  About  the  place  Dilaz  see  the  references  given  by  Harkavy, 
/.  c,  p.  234,  n.  9;  comp.  ib.,  pp.  145,  n,  2,  165,  n.  ii;  Wustenfeld, 
Geschichte  der  Fatimiden  Chalifen,  Gottingen,  1881,  p.  313.  For  the 
year  of  Saadia's  birth  see  also  Buber,  jV^  ''lytJ',  Jaroslau,  1885, 
p.  32,  n.  420,  and  his  Introduction  to  t^Qin^D,  p.  T"D.  His  conten- 
tion, followed  by  Griinhut,  IJD,  1899,  p.  180,  that  Saadia  was  born 
in  862  is  without  basis.  [For  the  date  882,  found  recently  in  a 
Genizah  fragment,  see  Postscript.'] 

^  See  Bornstein,  p.  90,  n.  5 ;  Harkavy,  p.  230. 

'  Schechter,  Saadyana,  p.  20,  n.  3 ;  comp.  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge  sur 
Geschichte  und  Literatur  im  geondischen  Zeitalter  (reprint  from 
MGWJ.,  1908-13),  Berlin,  1913,  pp.  127  f.;  below,  note  188. 

^  Schechter,  ib.,  n.  4.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  veracity  of 
the  sources  in  this  point.  Saadia's  father  may  have  died  in  Jaffa  on 
his  way  East  to  join  his  son,  see  below,  note  119. 


28  SAADIA  GAON 

tion  of  his  character  and  greatness.'  But  coming,  as  these 
reports  do,  from  men  known  to  have  been  the  bitterest 
enemies  of  Saadia,  with  the  obvious  intention  of  discrediting 
and  disquahfying  the  object  of  hatred,  they  must  be  put  on  a 
level  with  the  invectives  and  malicious  charges  against  the 
Gaon  that  are  found  in  the  same  documents."  We  may  leave 
such  hostile  testimony  out  of  our  calculation.  On  the  other 
hand,  from  the  respectful  tone  in  which  a  very  prominent 
and  well-informed  authority  "  refers  to  Saadia's  father,  we 
may  conclude  that  the  latter,  whatever  his  occupation  may 
have  been,  was  a  pious  and  learned  Jew. 

Moreover,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  panegyric  of 
a  Gaon  and  his  family  discovered  some  years  ago  in  the 
Genizah"  has  reference  to  none  other  than  the  Gaon  Saadia 

*  The  Talmud  points  with  pride  to  several  eminent  teachers  of 
the  Mishnah  as  descendants  of  non-Jews,  and  even  R.  'Akiba,  the 
"  father  of  rabbinical  Judaism,"  was,  according  to  an  old  tradition 
(Nissim,  nriDQ,  i^b),  the  descendant  of  proselytes.  R.  'Akiba's 
famous  pupil,  R.  Meir,  is  said  to  have  been  the  descendant  of  Nero 
{h.  Gittin,  56a);  comp.  Briill,  Jahrhucher,  II,  154  ff. ;  Harkavy, 
Zikron,  V,  233,  n.  3;  see  also  Harkavy,  Saadjah-Miscellen,  Israelit- 
ische  Monatsschrift  (Beilage  ziir  Jiidischen  Presse),  Berlin,  1890, 
no.  12, 

^  Saadia  is  here  accused  of  profaning  the  name  of  God,  trans- 
gressing in  public  the  laws  of  the  Sabbath,  embezzling  the  funds 
collected  for  the  poor,  and  leading  a  debauched  life;  see  Harkavy, 
Zikron,  V,  233.  That  there  was  not  a  shadow  of  truth  in  any  of 
these  charges  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  same  men  who  uttered 
them,  particularly  the  Exilarch  David  b.  Zakkai,  later  reappointed 
and  recognized  Saadia  as  Gaon,  as  the  religious  and  spiritual  head  of 
all  Israel ;  comp.  Harkavy,  /.  c,  p.  223. 

"  R.  Sherira,  the  Gaon  of  the  sister-academy  in  Pumbedita  (961- 
998)  ;  see  Sherira's  Epistle,  ed.  Neubauer,  I,  40,  top ;  Bornstein,  p.  90, 
n.  5,  end. 

"  Schechter,  Saadyana,  no.  xxxv.  The  MS.  was  already  out 
of  my  hands,  when  another  portion  of  this  panegyric  was  pub- 
lished by  Mr.  Jacob  Mann  (JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  IX  (1918-1919),  PP- 
153-160).  Mr.  Mann  dismisses  Schechter's  tentative  identification  of 
the  hero  of  the  poem  with  Saadia  as  out  of  the  question,  because  in 
the  acrostic  of  the  poem  the  author  styles  himself  IJD*)  (our  teacher) 
which,  had  Saadia  been  the  subject  of  the  eulogy,  he  would  certainly 
not  have  done.  Space  forbids  to  enter  here  upon  a  detailed  discussion 
of  the  new  portion  of  the  panegyric.     But  it  may  be  pointed  out  that 


ORIGIN  AND  FAMILY  RELATIONS  29 

and  his  house.  There  we  learn  that  he  had  three  sons 
and  two  married  daughters.  There  were  also  a  brother  and 
nephews,  the  sons  of  his  sisters,  who  apparently  were  con- 
sidered members  of  his  family."  In  two  passages  we  are 
informed  that  Saadia's  wife,  "  though  advanced  in  years, 
was  still  fresh  and  vigorous  and  bearing  fruit,"  and  the 
writer  expresses  his  wish  that  the  child  to  which  she  was 
about  to  give  birth  should  be  a  son."^'  Now  it  is  known  from 
historical  sources  that  Rabbi  Dosa,  the  only  son  of  Saadia 
who  acquired  prominence  as  a  scholar,  was  born  during 

no  poet  would  properly  refer  to  himself  in  the  acrostic  as  "'  Our 
Teacher"!  The  title  1JH  refers  not  to  the  author  but,  like  the 
immediately  following  titles,  to  the  subject  of  the  poem.  With- 
out basis  is  also  Mr.  Mann's  contention  that  this  part  of  the 
panegyric  is  the  continuation  of  the  one  published  in  Schechter's 
Saadyana,  because  there  only  three  sons  of  the  hero  are  alluded 
to  (p.  68,  1.  22),  while  here  "already"  four  are  mentioned,  a  fourth 
son  having  in  the  meantime  been  born.  One  may  just  as  well 
reverse  the  order  and  say  that  when  the  part  published  in  Saadyana 
was  written  one  of  the  four  sons  had  died.  With  such  argumentation 
we  get  nowhere. 

"  Schechter,  Saadyana,  p.  64. 

^''  I  derive  these  details  from  the  text  in  Schechter's  Saadyana, 
p.  66,  11.  25-6;  p.  6y,  11.  18-19.  My  interpretation  of  the  text  will  do 
away  with  the  difficulty  raised  by  Schechter,  /.  c,  p.  65,  who  opposes 
the  identification  of  the  Gaon,  to  whom  the  panegyric  is  dedicated, 
with  Saadia  on  the  ground  that  no  reference  is  made  therein  to  R. 
Dosa,  the  only  son  of  Saadia  known  to  history.  At  that  time  Dosa 
was  not  yet  born.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  assume  that  the  Gaon 
referred  to  is  Samuel  b.  Hophni,  we  are  confronted  not  only  with  the 
difficult}^  also  pointed  out  by  Schechter,  /.  c,  that  Samuel's  son-in-law, 
the  Gaon  Hai,  is  not  mentioned,  but  also  that  his  learned  son,  R 
Israel,  who  is  supposed  to  have  assisted  him  in  the  Gaonate,  is  like- 
wise disregarded;  see  for  this  matter  Poznanski,  REJ.,  LXII,  120- 
123,  and  JQR.,  1912-3,  p.  403,  bottom ;  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  13,  note. 
The  author  of  the  panegyric  is  most  likely  the  same  R.  Abraham  to 
whom  Saadia  in  his  letter  to  his  pupils  in  Egypt  {Saadyana,  p.  25, 
I.  2,  overlooked  by  Poznanski,  Schechter's  Saadyana,  p.  8)  refers  as 
"our  friend,"  and  perhaps  identical  with  Pin^ti^^n  n^:iD  DniDt? 
mentioned  in  Saadyana,  no.  Ivi,  p.  148,  1.  17;  see  Schechter, 
Saadyana,  pp.  vii,  147.  It  may  also  be  noted  that  the  eulogist  refers 
to  Yannai  and  Elcazar  [Kalir]  as  the  Gaon's  models  in  tlir  field 
of  poetry  (p.  73,  1.  24)  which  is  done  also  by  Saadia  in  his  |'n:iX 


30  SAADIA  GAON 

Saadia's  first  occupancy  of  the  Gaonate  (928-932),"  the 
period  in  which  the  panegyric  under  discussion  must  have 
been  written.  If  we  bear  in  mind  that  we  are  dealing 
with  the  Orient,  where  the  women  age  at  a  very  much 
faster  rate  than  with  us,  we  shall  concede  that  the  author 
of  the  eulogy  might  well  describe  Saadia's  wife,  who  was 
then  about  forty,  in  the  terms  quoted.  That  Saadia  was 
the  father  of  several  children  besides  the  well-known  Dosa 
is  borne  out  by  two  fragmentary  letters  which  were  like- 
wise discovered  in  the  Genizah.^  These  were  undoubtedly 
written  by  Saadia,  and  in  both  he  mentions  his  ''  beloved 
children."  The  author  of  the  eulogy,  a  certain  Abraham 
Kohen,  who  appears  to  have  acted  as  the  Gaon's  secretary, 
speaks  with  great  veneration  of  his  master's  progenitors,^' 
perhaps  including  the  father."  The  language  is  so  vague 
that  it  cannot  be  decided  with  certainty,  whether  in  speaking 
of  Saadia's  "  forefathers  "  Abraham  had  in  mind  particular 

(Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  51)  and  in  his  Commentary  on  the  Sefer 
Yezirah,  ed.  Lambert,  p.  23 ;  see  below,  p.  44. 

Recently  A.  Marmorstein  (JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  VI  (1915-1916),  pp. 
158  ff.)  has  put  forth  the  view  that  "there  are  five  different  Abraham 
Hakohen."  However,  as  he  has  only  four,  he  borows  one  from 
Schechter's  Saadyana,  p.  64,  n.  12.  The  passage  in  no  way  bears 
out  his  contention. 

"  See  Poznanski's  article  on  Dosa,  ])i<^  nnyo  2"in  t<Dn  3"!  (re- 
print from  \^^n,  vol.  VI)  Berdyczew,  1906,  p.  9,  who,  approaching 
the  subject  from  another  side,  also  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that 
Dosa  must  have  been  born  about  935.  This,  to  my  mind,  is  a  little 
too  late,  as  in  that  year  Saadia  was  already  an  exile,  while  our  eulogy 
refers  to  him  as  Gaon,  That  this  eulogy,  if  it  refers  to  Saadia,  was 
written  after  his  reinstatement  in  the  office  (937)  is  quite  improbable, 
as  in  this  case  we  should  expect  some  explicit  reference  to  the  impor- 
tant events  that  took  place  during  the  years  immediately  preceding  it. 

"  Schechter,  Saadyana,  no.  vii ;  Bornstein,  p.  67 ;  JQR.,  IX,  37, 
reprinted  by  Epstein,  REJ.,  XLII,  201,  Bornstein,  p.  69.  The  impor- 
tance of  these  letters  will  be  discussed  later.  Here  I  wish  to  state  only 
that  the  authorship  of  Saadia  is  established  beyond  doubt  in  spite  of 
the  objections  of  Israel  Levi  (REJ.,  XLI,  231)  ;  see  Epstein,  /.  c,  202  ; 
Bornstein,  71,  and  recently  also  S.  Eppenstein,  Beitr'dge,  p.  91. 

'"Schechter,  Saadyana,  pp.  66,  1.  17;  68,  1.  14  (?)  ;  72,,  1.  28. 

"  Schechter,  Saadyana,  p.  65,  n.  5. 


ORIGIN  AND  FAMILY  RELATIONS  31 

persons  known  to  him,  or  used  the  word  figuratively  in  a 
general  sense."*  In  connection  with  this  it  should  be  noted 
that  Saadia  himself  claimed  to  be  of  the  tribe  of  Judah.  He 
traced  his  pedigree  directly  to  Shelah,  the  third  son  of 
Judah,"  while  the  historian  Abraham  Ibn  Dadd  (12th  cen- 
tury) asserts  that  Saadia  was  a  descendant  of  Hanina  b. 
Dosa,  a  teacher  of  the  Mishnah  in  the  first  century." 

^^"  In  the  part  published  by  J.  Mann,  however,  the  allusion  to  the 
father  is  quite  explicit;  see  Mann,  •/.  c,  p.  159,  n.  143. 

"  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  164,  n.  10 ;  229,  n.  5 ;  comp.  Bornstein, 
pp.  72  f;  below,  note  230,  We  need  not  attach  much  importance 
to  this  statement;  it  is  repeated  too  often  in  the  history  of  Jewish 
celebrities  to  be  true.  Ben  Meir  (see  below,  note  150),  Sherira  (see 
below,  note  228),  Rashi,  Maimonides,  Isaac  Abarbanel,  and  many 
others  made  similar  assertions,  or  were  put  in  such  relationship  by 
generous  Hebrew  chroniclers;  see  Weiss,  VtJ^ini  1)1  1)1  (Wilna, 
1904),  IV,  146;  idem,  TlD^fl  JIU,  I,  161,  particularly  Zunz  in  his 
notes  on  the  Itinerary  of  Benjamin  of  Tudela  II,  6-9;  see  also  below, 
note  659. 

"  See  Poznanski,  jlX:!  nnVD  nil  KDH  11,  p.  7,  n.  12. 


Chapter  II 
SAADIA'S  EARLY  EDUCATION 

The  uncertainty  that  characterizes  the  first  period  of 
Saadia's  Hfe  is  felt  most  strongly  when  we  approach 
the  question  of  his  early  education.  It  is  not  merely  a  mat- 
ter of  the  details  needed  for  the  completion  of  Saadia's 
biography  as  an  individual.  We  are  concerned  with  the 
beginning  of  a  new  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  Jewish 
people,  the  immediate  causes  and  surrounding  circum- 
stances of  which,  the  Jewish  historian  is  particularly  desirous 
of  knowing.  We  should  like  to  reach  back  to  the  very 
roots  of  the  thoroughgoing  change  in  the  intellectual  de- 
velopment and  literary  activity  of  the  Jew^s  that  coincides 
with  the  appearance  of  Saadia  on  the  scene.  W^e  should 
like  to  know  in  how  far  Saadia's  individual  genius  is  re- 
sponsible for  the  new  era  he  inaugurated,  or  to  what 
extent  we  ought  to  feel  indebted  to  his  teacher  or  teachers, 
Jewish  or  Muhammedan,  and  to  the  intellectual  atmosphere 
which  he  breathed  during  his  formative  period.  Unfortu- 
nately, there  is  nothing  in  the  available  sources  to  clear  up 
these  points,  and  the  student  must  comfort  himself  with 
the  reflection  that  all  beginnings  are  obscure. 

The  only  positive  reference  to  a  teacher  of  Saadia  is 
found  in  the  work  of  a  contemporary  IMuhammedan  writer, 
the  historian  Al-Mas'udi '"  (died  957),  who  names  as  such  a 
certain  Abu  Kathir  Yahya  al-Katib  of  Tiberias.  Mas'udi 
reports  that  he  had  a  religious  disputation  with  Abii  Kathir 
in  Palestine,  and  that  the  latter  died  in  320  of  the  Hegira 
(=932,  c.  E.).  No  further  particulars  are  known  about 
this  Abu   Kathir,   except   that   the    famous   Muhammedan 

^Mn  his  Kitab  at-Tanbih,  edited  by  J.  M.  De  Goeje  in  Bihl.  Gcogr. 
Arahicormn,  vol.  VTII,  Leyden,  1894,  p.  113,  French  translation  by 
Carra  de  Vaux,  Lc  Livre  de  VAvertissement,  Paris,  1896,  p.  160. 
32 


S  A  APIA'S  EARLY  EDUCATION 


^Z 


theologian  Ibn  Hazm  (994-1064)  quotes  him  together  with 
Saadia  and  David  Al-Mukammis  (see  p.  67)  as  one  of  the 
Jewish  MutakalHmian  (theologians)/'  Modern  Jewish 
investigators  are  inclined  to  identify  him  with  Judah  Abu 
'Ali,  or  b.  'Alan,  ha-Nazir  of  Tiberias,''  an  eminent  grammar- 
ian, whom  the  Karaites  count  as  their  own.^^ 

"  See  below,  note  2)3- 

^^The   first   to   suggest   this    identification   was   L.    Dukes    in   his 
nilDOn   DItDJIp,  Tubingen,  1846,  p.  2.     The  suggestion  was  taken 
up  by  Steinschneider  in  his  essay  Judische  Literatur  in  Ersch  and 
Gruber's  Encyklopadie,  II,  vol.  27,  p.  414,  n.  27  (1850;  English  edition, 
"  Jewish  Literature,"  London,  1857,  p.  324,  n.  27,  Hebrew  translation 
by   H.   Malter,    Warsaw,    1897,   p.    194,   n.   4),   also   by   Geiger    in 
the  Hebrew  periodical   Osar  Nechmad,  II    (1857),   158    (reprinted 
in  Geiger's  Nachgelassene  Schriften,   V,    32,  and  recently  also  by 
Poznanski,    Dnot^O   DVnp,  Warsaw,   1910,  p.  2^^),  and   Pinsker, 
Likkute    (i860),  I,  5,   105.     The  Hebrew  sources  from  which  our 
knowledge  of  this  grammarian  is  derived  give  his  name  as  Judah 
b.   'Alan   ha-Tabbarani,  i.   e.,  of   Tiberias    (so   the   Karaite   Judah 
Hadassi,  12th  century,  in  his  'Eshkol,  Alphabet  257,  letter  » :    .  .  . 
V"^    ^^^iDtJ'D    ^Jinton    l^y    |n    r\'l'\r]'^;    comp.  fHJ^m,  Alphabet  173, 
letter  D,  where  he  mentions  PIplOPl  ^JIID  as  the  author  of  a  work 
D^J""!/  n1^?D),  and  'Ali  b.  Judah  ha-Nazir  (so  David  Kimhi  in  ^I^IDD, 
ed.  Lyck,  1862,  p.  81 ;  comp.  Dukes,  Beitmge,  II,  133 ;  Bacher,  Die 
Anfdnge  der  Hebr.  Grammatik,  p.  44,  n.  4).    In  the  text  I  have  given 
the  name  in  accordance  with  Steinschneider,  Arab.  Liter,  der  Juden, 
§  23;  comp.  ib.,  §  67,  where  the  references  to  a  considerable  liter- 
ature on  the  matter  are  given;  see  also  JQR.,  XIII,  315.     Here  it 
should  only  be  mentioned  that  according  to  Pinsker,  /.  c,  5  (accepted 
by  Bacher  in  Winter  and  Wiinsche's  Die  jiidische  Litteratur,  II,  141) 
this  Judah  is  probably  referred  to  by  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra  (D^JTK?0, 
beginning),  who  speaks  of  a  "scholar  of  Jerusalem,  whose  name  is 
unknown  and  who  wrote  eight  valuable  works  on  grammar  in  the 
Arabic  language."     He  is  mentioned  also  by  the  Karaite  Lewi  b. 
Jephet,  nth  century  (Pinsker,  I.e.,  II,  64;  comp.  ib.,  p.  139,  where 
a  Hebrew  elegy  of  Judah  is  quoted)   and  by  Judah  Ibn  Bal'ara,  an 
eminent  grammarian  of  the  nth  century  (Pinsker,  /.  e.,  I,  5)  ;  comp. 
also  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  11$,  and  in  ^^DN^nX  Hl^  Warsaw,   1894, 
pp.  279  f . ;  Ha-Goren,  IV,  75  ff. 

^See  Harkavy,  /.  c.  and  Zikron,  V,  ns,  who  disputes  this  Karaitic 
claim   and,    against   Pinsker,   concludes   that   he   was    a    Rabbanite; 
comp.  also  Steinschneider,  AL.,  §  23. 
3 


34  SAADIA  GAON 

The  identity  of  this  reported  teacher  of  Saadia  is  of  far- 
reaching  importance,  not  only  for  his  pupil's  biography, 
but  also  for  the  general  history  of  medieval  Jewish  litera- 
ture. Ever  since  the  question  has  been  mooted  as  to  when 
and  by  whom  scientific  methods  of  investigation  were  first 
introduced  into  the  various  fields  of  Jewish  literature,  par- 
ticularly that  of  Hebrew  philology  and  exegesis,  scholars 
have  been  divided  on  that  point.  Jost,'*  Munk,""  Geiger,'"  and 
particularly  Pinsker ''  were  of  the  opinion  that  the  Karaites 
inaugurated  the  period  of  scientific  activity,  more  especially 
as  concerns  grammatical  and  lexicographical  works.  From 
them  the  spirit  of  investigation  spread  to  the  Rabbanites. 
Pinsker,  indeed,  goes  so  far  as  to  assert  that  "  soon  after 
the  close  of  the  Talmud  there  appeared  a  number  of 
Karaite  scholars  who  wrote  on  astronomy,  philosophy, 
rhetoric,  poetry,  grammar,  and  lexicography,"  preparing 
thereby  the  new  era  of  Jewish  science,  which  is  commonly 
considered  Saadia's  creation.  It  was  Anan,  the  founder 
of  Karaism  (750),  who  originated  the  watchword,  "  Search 
well  in  the  Bible !  "  and  thus  gave  his  followers  the 
impetus  to  break  with  the  Midrashic,  allegorical  inter- 
pretation of  the  Scriptures  dominant  among  the  Jews  of  his 
time,  and  to  replace  it  by  an  exegesis  based  on  grammatical 
and  philological  studies.  On  the  other  hand,  Rapoport,"* 
Steinschneider,''  and  more  recently  Bacher '"  and  Harkavy,'' 

"  Geschichte  der  Israeliten,  II,  328. 

^Notice  sur  Ahou'l-Walid  Merwan  Ihn-Djanah,  Paris,  1851,  p.  4, 

^  WissenschaftUche  Zeitschrift  fiir  jiidische  Theolo^ie,  V,  274 ; 
comp.  also  Poznanski  in  Leben  und  Lebenswerk  of  Abraham  Geiger, 
Berlin,  1910,  p.  383. 

"  Likkute,  I,  4  ff. ;  comp.  his  introduction  to  that  work,  p.  iv,  and 
Schorr's  criticism  of  the  same  in  He-Haliis,  VI,  56  ff.  For  other 
references  see  Steinschneider,  Jewish  Literature,  326,  n.  2>?>  I  Z^7,  'i-  49  5 
idem,  Bibliographisches  Handbuch,  Leipzig,  1859,  P-  xii,  n.  5. 

"  In  his  biography  of  Saadia  in  the  Hebrew  periodical  Bikkuri 
ha-Itthn  IX    (1828),  20  ff. 

^JQR.,  XIII,  314;  XVII,  356;  MWJ.,  XX,  236;  comp.  also  ib., 
XIX,  260. 

'"/>?>  Anfdnge  der  hebfdischen  Grammatik ,  Leipzig,  1895,  pp.  2,  38  f. 

''Zikron,  V,  36  f. ;  comp.  MWJ.,  XX,  149,  236. 


SAADIA'S  EARLY  EDUCATION  35 

basing  their  views  on  the  testimony  of  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra, 
who  gives  an  historical  enumeration  of  the  first  Hebrew 
grammarians,  emphatically  deny  the  claim  of  the  Karaites, 
and  assign  priority  to  Saadia.  Harkavy,  the  consistent  op- 
ponent of  Pinsker,  even  goes  to  the  extreme  of  denying 
that  the  Karaites  had  any  part  at  all  in  influencing  the  de- 
velopment of  Hebrew  philology ;  a  view  espoused,  however, 
by  no  other  scholar. 

If,  now,  the  above-mentioned  Abii  Kathir  is  identical  with 
Judah  b.  'Alan,  supposedly  referred  to  by  Abraham  Ibn 
Ezra  as  the  author  of  eight  works  on  grammar,  and  if  he 
was  a  Karaite,  as  is  claimed  by  Judah  Hadassi  and,  follow- 
ing him,  by  Pinsker,  we  should  have  here  not  only  the 
desired  information  on  the  nature  and  the  sources  of 
Saadia's  early  education,  but  also  sufficient  ground  for  the 
assumption  that  the  Karaites  had  in  fact  taken  the  lead 
in  bringing  about  the  new  era  of  learning  and  literature,  of 
which  Saadia  was  merely  the  first  Rabbanite  exponent.  But 
such  is  not  the  case.  There  is  no  good  reason  to  doubt  the 
identification  of  Abu  Kathir  with  Judah  ben  *x\lan,  but  it  is 
altogether  improbable  that  the  latter  was  a  Karaite.  Many 
of  the  Karaite  opponents  of  Saadia  were  his  contemporaries, 
and  could  not  have  been  ignorant  of  a  circumstance  so 
favorable  to  them.  Had  Saadia's  teacher  been  a  Karaite, 
and  a  scholar  of  such  eminence  that  even  a  Muhammedan 
writer  took  notice  of  him,  they  would  not  have  failed  to 
advert  to  a  fact  that  might  seem  to  show  both  their  own 
superiority  and  the  ingratitude  of  their  adversary .""  On  the 
other  hand,  there  is  excellent  reason  to  believe  that  the 
teacher  of  Saadia  was  a  Rabbanite.  Al-Mas'udi  makes  an 
teacher  of  Saadia  was  a  Rabbanite.  Al-Mas'udi  makes  an  ex- 
plicit statement  to  this  effect  with  reference  to  Ahix  Kathir,'" 

"This  becomes  the  more  certain  when  we  remember  that  some 
Karaites  accused  Saadia  of  such  ingratitude  toward  his  Karaitic  oppo- 
nent Salmon  b.  Jeroham,  whom  they  falsely  declared  as  Saadia's 
teacher   in   order   to   base   their   accusation    thereon ;    comp.   Weiss, 

vti^ini  nn  nn,  wiina,  1904,  iv,  124,  n.  i. 

'^That  Abu  Kathir  was  a  Rabbanite  may  be  concluded  also  from 
the  fact  that  Ibn  Hazm  (see  above,  p.  ZZ)  mentions  him  as  a  Jewish 


36  SAADIA  GAON 

while  in  respect  to  Judah  b.  'Alan  the  epithet  Tabbardm 
ha-Medakdek  ('' the  Tiberian  grammarian")  renders  it  all 
but  certain  that  he  belonged  to  the  school  of  the  Tiberian 
Masorites,  who  were  all  adherents  of  traditional  Judaism. 

The  information  given  by  Al-Mas'ijdi  enables  us  to 
establish  a  relationship  of  pupil  and  master  between  Saadia 
and  one  of  the  scholars  of  his  time,  whoever  he  may  have 
been.  There  is  no  evidence,  however,  that  the  relation  ex- 
isted during  the  first  period  of  Saadia's  life,  while  he  was 
still  in  Egypt.  It  may  have  fallen  into  the  period  of  his 
Palestinian  sojourn.  Saadia  emigrated  to  Palestine  in  915, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-three.^"  He  was  still  young  enough  to 
sit  at  the  feet  of  a  master ;  and  Abii  Kathir  (who,  according 
to  Al-Mas{idi,  died  in  932)  may  have  been  sufficiently  his 
senior  in  years  to  take  the  part  of  his  senior  in  learning. 
From  Arabic  sources  we  know  that  Al-Mas  udi  visited  Pales- 
tine in  926,**  probably  the  year  of  the  religious  disputation," 
mentioned  before,  carried  on  by  him  with  Abu  Kathir  at 
Tiberias.  Here  and  on  that  occasion  it  may  have  been  that 
he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Abu  Kathir  the  master,  and 
Saadia  the  disciple.  To  be  sure,  in  the  year  926  Saadia 
had  settled  permanently  in  Babylonia  as  a  member  of  the 

Mutakallim  together  with  Saadia  and  Al-Mukammis  (see  Fried- 
lander,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  I  (1910-1911),  p.  187,  n.  6).  It  is  not  probable 
that  this  Muhammedan  polemist,  who  was  familiar  with  Jewish  mat- 
ters (comp.  Poznanski,  JQR.,  XVI,  765-771)  would  have  thus  mixed 
together  Karaites  and  Rabbanites  on  the  ground  that  they  had  theories 
on  the  Kalam  in  common.    For  Al-Mukammis  see  below,  p.  67. 

*"  But  see  Postscript. 

'^See  Brockelmann,  Gcschichte  dcr  arab.  Litcratiir,  I,  144;  Stein- 
schneider,  JQR.,  XIT,  298. 

^  One  of  the  disputed  questions  was  whether  the  divine  law  was 
intended  for  all  times  or  was  given  with  the  view  of  being  abrogated 
at  some  future  time  when  it  will  be  replaced  by  a  new  law.  This 
problem  greatly  agitated  the  minds  of  Jewish  and  Muhammedan 
theologians  of  the  time,  and  Saadia  himself  has  devoted  much  space 
to  its  discussion  in  the  third  chapter  of  his  'Amanat;  comp.  Stein- 
schneider,  Polemische  und  apologetische  Literatur,  p.  103 ;  Guttmann, 
Die  Religionsphilosophie  des  Saadia,  Gottingen,  1882,  pp.  148  ff.  ; 
Goldziher,  REJ.,  XLVII  (1903),  41  f. 


SAADIA'S  EARLY  EDUCATION  zf 

academy  of  Sura.  This  does  not  preclude,  however,  his  hav- 
ing been  in  Tiberias  the  same  year ;  he  was  in  the  habit  of 
travehng. 

Assuming  all  this  to  have  been  the  case,  nothing  has  been 
gained  so  far  as  concerns  the  first  period  of  Saadia's  Hfe — 
tlie  Egyptian  period  under  consideration.  We  must  again 
leave  the  safe  ground  of  positive  history  and  try  to  satisfy 
ourselves  with  conjectural  indications.  We  shall  have  to  set 
out,  as  it  were,  on  a  voyage  of  exploration  to  Egypt  and  the 
neighboring  countries,  or  to  countries  known  to  have  had 
some  connection  with  ninth  century  Egypt,  in  order  to  dis- 
cover the  learned  or  otherwise  prominent  men  living  there 
shortly  before  and  during  the  time  of  Saadia.  Such  men 
testify  to  an  intellectual  Hfe  and  to  Hterary  activity  in  circles 
which,  judging  from  particulars  to  be  enumerated  later, 
must  have  been  accessible  to  Saadia,  and  must  have  deter- 
mined his  course. 

In  the  first  place,  it  must  be  pointed  out  that  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Jews  of  Egypt  and  the  other  Eastern  coun- 
tries under  Muhammedan  rule  was,  without  doubt,  chiefly 
Arabic.  In  all  probability  the  language  of  the  Koran  had 
become  the  vernacular  of  most  of  the  Jews  and  the  Samari- 
tans soon  after  the  Hegrah.^*  This  being  the  case,  it  is 
obvious  that  Saadia  could  make  use  of  the  literature  of  the 
Arabs  as  well  as  the  w^orks  of  Judaeo-Arabic  authors.  That 
the  Arabs,  even  previous  to  the  time  of  Saadia,  had  developed 
a  vast  literature,  covering  all  fields  of  human  knowledge,  is 
too  well  known  to  require  detailed  proof.  Nor  can  there  be 
any  doubt  that  the  literary  productions  of  the  Arabs  living 
in  the  main  seats  of  Arabic  culture  (Bagdad,  Basra,  etc.) 
were  current  also  in  Egypt,  which  until  972,  when  it  was 

^  See  A.  E.  Cowley,  JQR.,  VII,  565 ;  ib.,  XII,  495-  The  Arabic 
speaking  Jews  always  attached  a  certain  degree  of  sacredness  to  the 
Arabic  language,  which  they  considered  as  "  corrupted  Hebrew  " ;  see 
for  this  matter  Steinschneider,  JQR.,  XIII,  303-310;  idem  AL., 
pp.  xxiv,  xxxiv;  Bacher,  JE.,  V,  13.  For  quotations  of  the  Koran 
in  the  works  of  Saadia  see  the  references  by  Steinschneider,  JQR., 
XII,  499. 


38.  SAADIA  GAON 

conquered  by  the  Faiimide  Caliph  Al-Mu'izz,  was  a  de- 
pendency of  the  'Abbaside  CaHphate  that  had  its  seat  in 
Bagdad.  This  poHtical  connection  was  re-enforced  by  con- 
stant migrations  between  the  two  countries,  owing  to  the 
pilgrimages  to  Mecca  that  were  frequently  undertaken  by 
the  Muhammedans  in  large  troops  (caravans).  Numerous 
scholars  in  various  fields  of  literature  and  science  are  known 
to  have  lived  in  Egypt  during  the  ninth  and  tenth  cen- 
turies."' Still  closer  relations  existed  between  Egypt  and 
thft  neighboring  countries  in  northwestern  Africa  (Cyre- 
naica,  Tripoli,  Algeria,  and  Morocco  of  today),  especially 

"  For  the  many  scholars  who  lived  either  their  whole  life  or  for 
some  period  in  Egypt  before  and  during  the  time  of  Saadia,  see 
Brockelmann,  Geschichte  der  arahischen  Literatur,  I,  91,  131,  142, 
no.  4  (the  great  historian  Al-Tabari),  148,  i62c-d,  173  f-,  nos.  7-8, 
176,  178  (the  'Imam  Al-Shafi'i,  founder  of  a  school  of  Fukaha',  i.  e., 
expounders  of  Muhammedan  law,  whose  influence  can  be  seen  also 
in  Saadia's  Halakic  work;  comp.  Steinschneider,  Hehrdische  Ueber- 
setzimgen,  p.  xxiii),  180,  nos.  2-3,  198,  no.  2  (a  Siifi),  221  (the  astrono- 
mer Al-Fargani;  comp.  Malter,  Die  Ahhandhing  des  Abu  Hdmid  Al- 
Gazzdli,  Frankfurt  a.  M.  1896,  pp.  viii  f.),  226  (the  famous  historian 
Al-Ya'kubi,  died  891),  232,  no.  5  (a  teacher  of  Isaac  IsraeH,  but  see 
Steinschneider,  JQR.,  XIII  (1901),  97)  ;  comp.  also  Steinschneider, 
Orientalistische  Litteratur-Zeitung,  1904,  col.  431,  no.  87A  (probably 
the  same  one  who  is  mentioned  in  Wiistenfeld,  Geschichte  der 
Fatimiden-Chalifen,  p.  38,  as  living  in  the  Magreb),  ib.,  1905,  col. 
213,  no,  200  (where  the  date  1526-7  is  to  be  corrected  to  933,  as  in 
Brockelmann,  /.  c,  I,  173;  see  Steinschneider,  ib.,  1905,  col.  489,  1.  i), 
col.  264,  no.  234.  For  Judah  b.  Joseph  of  Rakka  in  Egypt  (or  Meso- 
potamia? see  Steinschneider,  Hebr'dische  Ubersetzungen,  378,  n.  69; 
p.  774;  idem,  JQR.,  XI,  328,  top,  and  below,  note  135),  a  physician  and 
philosopher  (pupil  of  the  famous  astronomer  Thabit  b.  Kurrah,  who 
died  in  891),  with  whom  Mas'udi  reports  he  had  a  disputation  at 
Tiberias  in  314  of  the  Hegra  (=926,  c.  e.),  see  Steinschneider, 
Arabische  Literatur,  §  24;  comp.  JQR.,  XIII,  298,  and  above,  notes 
21,  34.  All  the  scholars  mentioned  in  the  passages  referred  to  were 
famous  in  the  various  fields  of  Hterature  and  science  in  which  they 
worked.  It  goes  without  saying  that  these  scholars  were  not  the 
only  ones  in  Egypt  and  the  Magreb ;  that  there  were  many  more  in 
the  various  parts  of  both  countries,  who  were  not  active  as  authors, 
or  whose  works  were  lost  during  the  following  centuries.  It  is 
therefore  but  reasonable  to  assume  that  there  existed  a  compara- 


SAADIA'S  EARLY  EDUCATION  39 

after  the  rise  of  the  Fatimide  dynasty  (909),  which  had 
established  its  seat  in  Kairwan/*  a  city  subsequently  famous 
in  the  history  of  the  Jews.'* 

The  question  is  to  what  extent  did  Saadia,  prompted 
either  by  his  own  desire  for  learning-,  or  other  motives, 
familiarize  himself  with  the  works  of  Muhammedan  authors 
before  his  emigration  from  Egypt  to  Palestine.  We  shall 
have  occasion  to  show  the  influence  of  Arabic  literature  on 
Saadia  in  works  of  his,  written  beyond  a  doubt  at  a  later 
period  of  his  life.  Here,  only  the  following  passage  can  be 
cited  to  prove  that  the  Arabic  influence  had  begun  to  show 
its  traces  at  the  time  when  he  was  preparing  one  of  his 
earliest  known  literary  productions,  the  Hebrew  lexicon  and 
rhyming  dictionary  'Agron.  The  very  name  of  this  book, 
written  in  his  twentieth  year,*"*  is  in  imitation  of  titles  used 
by  Muhammedan  authors  for  similar  works."  It  is  not 
necessary,  however,  to  draw  conclusions  from  such  tech- 
nical details.  Saadia  expresses  himself  unreservedly  about 
his  indebtedness  to  Arabic  authors,  who  served  him  as 
models  in  the  composition  of  his  work.  ''  It  is  reported," 
he  says,  "  that  one  of  the  worthies  among  the  Ishmae- 
lites,  reahzing  to  his  sorrow  that  the  people  do  not  use 
the  Arabic  language  correctly,  wrote  a  short  treatise  for 
them,  from  which  they  might  learn  proper  usages.     Simi- 

tively  high  standard  of  culture  and  civilization  among  the  Egyptian 
Muhammedans  of  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries,  though  their 
schools  of  learning,  as  Brockelmann  (I,  131)  avers,  were  entirely 
dependent  upon  those  in  the  'Irak,  the  main  country  of  the  Caliphs 
and  the  seat  of  Arabic  culture,  which  at  that  time  had  reached  the 
highest  mark  in  the  history  of  the  people. 

^  Comp.  Wiistenfeld,  Geschichte  der  Fatimiden-Chalifen,  Gottin- 
gen,  1881,  pp.  29  ff. 

"See  Poznanski's  \^^^^P  ^^^^,  Warsaw,  1909,  where  a  full 
account  is  given  of  the  Jewish  scholars  who  are  known  to  have  lived 
in  Kairwan  from  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  to  the  middle  of  the 
eleventh  century,  when,  owing  to  adverse  political  events,  the  Jewish 
community  was  disorganized  and  dispersed. 

■^  See  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  46,  n.  6;  56,  n.  40;  comp.  also  ih.,  p.  28, 
notes  8  and  9 ;  Bacher,  REE,  XXIV,  308. 

"  Harkavy,  ih.,  29  f . 


40  SAADIA  GAON 

larly,  I  have  noticed  that  many  of  the  Israelites  do  not  ob- 
serve even  the  common  rules  for  the  correct  use  of  our 
[Hebrew]  language,  much  less  the  more  difficult  rules,  so 
that  when  they  speak  in  prose  most  of  it  is  faulty,  and  when 
they  write  poetry  only  a  few  of  the  ancient  rules  are  ob- 
served, and  the  majority  of  them  are  neglected.  .  . .  This  has 
induced  me  to  compose  a  work  in  two  parts  containing 
most  of  the  [Hebrew]  words."*"  A  few  lines  before 
this  passage  he  mentions  having  met  numerous  scholars  who 
spoke  of  the  loss  of  many  scientific  works,  two  of  which  he 
quotes  by  title.  The  rules  of  Hebrew  grammar  adverted 
to  in  the  fragments  of  this  work  possessed  by  us — only  a 
little  more  than  the  Introduction  has  been  preserved — like- 
wise reveal  the  influence  of  the  school  of  Arabic  gram- 
marians." 

Great  as  the  influence  of  Arabic  culture  on  Saadia  may 
have  been,  his  main  teachers,  even  in  the  period  under  con- 
sideration, are  to  be  looked  for  among  his  own  brethren,  and 
the  chief  sources  that  inspired  him  in  his  youth  with  love 
for  knowledge  and  the  ambition  to  follow  a  learned  career 
must  be  sought  in  the  field  of  early  Jewish  literature.  To 
do  justice  to  him  we  must  take  into  account  whatever  is 
known,  either  on  the  testimony  of  available  sources  or  by 
way  of  assumption,  of  his  personal  contact  with  learned 
contemporaries  or  his  acquaintance  with  the  older  writings. 
The  evidence  thus  secured  will  furnish  us  the  background 
against  which  Saadia's  figure  stands  out  prominently. 

In  the  first  place  it  must  be  taken  into  consideration  that 
Jewish  Hfe  and  some  Jewish  literary  activity  persisted  in 
Egypt  long  after  the  Alexandrian  period.  In  the  absence 
of  adequate  historical  records*"  its  nature  cannot  be  accu- 

*^  Harkavy,  ib.,  45,  lines  3  ff. ;  comp.  Bacher,  Die  Anfdnge  der  hebr. 
Grammatik,  p.  60. 

■*^  See  Bacher,  ih.,  p.  60,  n.  3. 

**  Several  interesting  Greek  documents,  partly  from  the  Fayyum. 
the  birthplace  of  Saadia,  and  dating  from  the  sixth  and  seventh 
centuries  are  discussed  by  Theodore  Reinach,  Nouveaux  documents 
relatifs  aux  juifs  d'Egypte,  REJ „  XXXVII,  218-225;  see  in  par- 
ticular p.  219,  no.  3,  and  pp.  224  f.,  Post-scriptum. 


SAADIA'S  EARLY  EDUCATION  41 

rately  defined.  On  the  other  hand,  so  far  as  the  mediaeval 
period  is  concerned,  we  can  trace  Jewish  learning  in  various 
parts  of  Egypt  as  far  back  as  two  centuries  before  Saadia. 
This  is  sufficiently  borne  out  by  the  various  collections  of 
Hebrew  papyri  found  in  Egypt,  particularly  in  the  district 
of  Fayyum,  where  Saadia  was  born.*"'  A  rather  conserva- 
tive estimate  places  the  origin  of  the  Fayyum  papyri  in  the 
first  half  of  the  eighth  century.  Most  of  the  fragments  con- 
tain remnants  of  liturgical  hymns,  one  of  them  bearing, 
according  to  Zunz  "  and  Steinschneider,  close  resemblance  in 
style  to  a  hymn  by  Eleazar  Kalir.  The  existence  of  syna- 
gogue poets  in  the  Fayyum  at  so  early  a  period,  and  no  doubt 
also  much  later,  down  to  the  time  of  Saadia,  may  have 
inspired  him  with  the  idea  of  writing  the  'Agron,  which  was 
intended  to  teach  the  art  of  versification.*' 

The  spread  of  Talmudic  learning  in  Egypt  long  before 
Saadia  is  further  attested  by  a  document  brought  to  light 
from  the  Genizah,  in  which  a  certain  Abii  'Ali  Hasan  of 
Bagdad  appears  as  "  the  Head  of  the  Congregation  "  of 
Fostat  (Old  Cairo)  in  the  year  750.*'  In  another  document 
one  Nahum  b.  Abraham  binds  himself  not  to  dispose  of  his 
share  in  a  house,  of  which  two  others  mentioned  by  name 
were  joint  owners  with  him,  in  such  a  way  as  to  trans- 
fer his  portion  of  the  property  to  a  certain  Joseph  Kohen. 
The  agreement  is  drawn  wholly  on  the  basis  of  the 
Talmudic  law  governing  the  peculiar  situation,  and  the 
phraseology  used  is  also  Talmudic.  Mention  is  made  of 
two  synagogues  situated  in  Fostat,  for  whose  benefit  the  same 
Nahum  was  to  pay  a  fine  of  twenty  denarii  in  case  of  breach 

"Steinschneider,  MIVJ.,  VI,  250-254;  idem,  Bibliotheca  Mathe- 
matica,  Stockholm,  1895,  p.  23 ;  comp.  Harkavy  Zikron,  V,  31 ;  Th. 
Reinach,  /.  c;  JE.,  V,  60,  s.  v.  Egypt.  For  the  origin  of  the  Jewish 
community  in  the  Fayyum  see  in  particular  Blau,  Papyri  und  Talmud, 
Leipzig,  1913,  p.  ID  and  references. 

**  Quoted  by  Steinschneider,  MWJ.,  VI,  251. 

"  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  ZJ- 

**See  JQR.,  XVII,  426  ff. ;  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  p.  2,  n.  1;  p.  55,  n. 
1;  p.  61,  n.  1;  p.  122,  note,  end;  E.  J.  Worman,  JQR.,  XVIII,  iff.; 
comp.  also  Weiss,  VEi^"ini  111  "IH,  Wihia,  1904,  IV,  124. 


^  SAADIA  GAON 

of  contract.  Many  other  manuscript  fragments  discovered 
in  the  Genizah,  some  of  which  belong  to  the  ninth  and  tenth 
centuries,  contain  references  to  the  same  two  synagogues,  and 
make  it  otherwise  certain  that  large  Jewish  settlements 
existed  in  Egypt,  particularly  in  Fostat,  as  early  as  the  eighth 
century,  and  probably  even  earlier,  in  the  post-Alexandrian 
period.*'  We  may  therefore  take  it  for  granted  that  a  Saadia, 
impelled  by  a  keen  desire  for  learning,  early  familiarized 
himself  with  whatever  knowledge  existed  among  the  Jews 
of  his  own  country. 

That  the  Jews  of  Egypt  before  and  during  the  time  of 
Saadia  had  been  in  possession  of  the  literature  and  learning 
emanating  from  the  two  academies  of  the  Babylonian  Geo- 
nim,  the  main  seats  of  Jewish  culture  in  those  times,  is  like- 
wise to  be  considered  a  matter  of  course.  Indeed,  there  was 
hardly  any  other  country  except  Palestine,  that  was  in  such 
frequent  communication  with  Babylonia  in  the  period  under 
consideration.  The  fact  that,  over  and  above  a  large 
number  of  unclassifiable  remnants  of  a  diversified  litera- 
ture, so  many  fragments  of  the  Babylonian  and  the 
Palestinian  Talmud,""  as  well  as  a  very  large  collection  of 
Geonic  Responsa*^  were  among  the  treasures  of  the  Geni- 
zah in  Cairo,  may  be  taken  as  proof  that  the  study  of  the 
Talmud  in  general  and  of  the  Geonic  literature  in  particular 

"  See  Worman,  JQR.,  XVIIT,  12,  top,  21,  1.  5 ;  27,  bottom ;  38  ; 
Bornstein,   y'D'n  DP^Iltt,  p.  2>7,  n.  2;  40,  n.  2. 

«oi0^tJ>n''n  nnt^^  edited  by  Louis  Ginzberg,  New  York,  1909. 

"  Forming  the  second  volume  of  Ginzberg's  Geonica,  New  York, 
1909.  This  fact  remains  significant  even  if  many  of  the  manuscripts 
were  written  at  a  period  later  than  that  of  Saadia,  for  they  may  be 
copies  of  much  older  originals,  which  were  current  in  Egypt  long 
before.  Most  of  the  Responsa  published  by  Ginzberg,  so  far  as  the 
authorship  can  be  ascertained,  come  from  the  Geonim  Moses  b. 
Jacob,  Sar  Shalom,  Natronai  b.  Hilai,  Amram,  Zemah  b.  Paltoi, 
Nahshon  (all  of  whom  lived  between  832-874),  and  others  of  the 
pre-Saadianic  period;  comp.  Ginzberg,  ib.,  pp.  19,  28,  88,  107,  143, 
156,  176,  179,  186,  191,  210,  216,  237,  nos.  10-13,  255,  no.  2,  298,  no. 
26,  301  ff.;  see  also  Appendix  (Sheeltot  and  the  Halakot  Gedolot), 
ib.,  349  ff. 


SAADIA'S  EARLY  EDUCATION  43 

had  had  full  sway  among  the  Jews  of  Egypt  at  an  early 
period.  It  goes  without  saying  that  the  young  and  wide- 
awake Saadia  followed  the  spirit  of  the  time,  and  was  a 
busy  student  of  the  entire  range  of  Geonic  writings.  Pos- 
sibly his  acquaintance  with  this  literature  and  his  ardent 
desire  to  see  with  his  own  eyes  the  great  spiritual  leaders  of 
the  Jews  of  the  Diaspora,  were  among  the  causes  that  subse- 
quently induced  him  to  emigrate  to  the  land  of  the  Geonim. 

Another  and  a  no  less  important  factor  that  must  be  con- 
sidered in  the  search  for  the  sources  of  Saadia's  early  edu- 
cation is  the  relation  between  the  Jews  of  Egypt  and  those 
of  Palestine,  especially  the  city  of  Tiberias.  As  early  as  the 
beginning  of  the  eighth  century  Tiberias  was  the  seat  of 
a  distinguished  school  of  Masorites  and  punctuators  of  the 
Bible.''  Palestine  was  also  the  soil  from  which  sprang  the 
Midrashim,  the  oldest  collections  of  homiletical  interpreta- 
tions of  Scripture.  These  originated  between  the  sixth  and 
tenth  centuries  and  are  as  genuinely  Jewish  in  spirit  as  the 
Talmud,  next  to  which  they  rank  in  bulk  in  Jewish  literature. 
Besides  several  works  of  Halakic  content,  belonging  to  the 
same  period,''  the  mysterious  Sefer  Yezirah  ("Book  of 
Creation  ")  is  in  all  probability  also  the  product  of  Palestine. 

That  Saadia,  while  yet  in  Egypt,  at  the  door  of  Palestine, 
was  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  products  of  Pales- 
tinian authors  can  in  many  instances  be  substantiated 
by  quotations  in  his  own  works.  Thus,  in  his  earliest  sur- 
viving book  (the  'Agron),  he  mentions  by  name  five 
''  ancient   Hebrew    poets,"   whose   compositions,   he   avers, 

"'The  p:in  nOD,  published  by  J.  J.  L.  Barges,  Paris,  1866,  is 
probably  also  a  product  of  the  Tiberian  Masorites.  Sachs,  in  his 
introduction  to  the  work,  considers  it  still  older.  At  any  rate  it  was 
known  also  to  Saadia,  as  he  mentions  it  in  his  Commentary  on  the 
Sefer  Yezirah  (ed.  Lambert,  94,  top)  ;  comp.  below,  note  452. 

'^E.  g.  the  Sheeltot  (Halakic  discussions)  of  R.  Aha  of  Shabha 
(eighth  century),  the  tractate  Soferim  (see  the  references  in  Bardo- 
wicz,  Die  Abfassungsseit  der  Baraita  der  32  Normen,  Berlin,  1913, 
p.  2>7,  n.  2),  and  some  of  the  fllJDP  niDDDQ;  see  Bornstein.  np^Ho! 
p.  III. 


44  SAADIA  GAON 

served  him  in  some  points  as  an  example/*  Three  of 
these  poets  are  the  famous  Payyetanim  Jose  b.  Jose,  Yannai, 
and  Eleazar  KaHr,  who,  as  is  now  ascertained,  Hved  in  Pales- 
tine during  the  seventh,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighth, 
century.  The  identity  of  the  two  others,  Joshua  and  Phine- 
has,  is  still  doubtful,  but  in  all  probability  both  were  Pales- 
tinians belonging  to  the  school  of  Masorites  "  whose  works 
Saadia  often  used.  As  to  the  Sefer  Yezirah,  we  know  that 
Saadia  wrote  a  philosophic  commentary  on  it.""  It  is  true 
that  this  commentary  belongs  to  a  later  period,"  and  it  might 
be  assumed  that  he  became  acquainted  with  the  Sefer 
Yezirah  during  his  sojourn  in  Palestine.  Such  an  assump- 
tion, however,  does  not  recommend  itself.  The  book  must 
have  been  known  in  the  East  and  also  in  Egypt  some  time 
prior  to  Saadia's  birth.  It  was  probably  the  reputation  of 
the  work  that  induced  him  to  provide  it  with  a  commentary." 
At  least  two  other  authors,  both  contemporaries  of  Saadia, 
but  living  in  different  countries,  also  wrote  commentaries 
on  it,  Isaac  Israeli  in  Kairwan  and  Shabbetai  Donnolo  in 

"  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  51. 

'^  Comp.  Bacher,  Anfdnge,  42,  47,  50,  n.  2 ;  for  Phinehas  see  ih. 
31,  n.  i;  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  112;  comp.  the  list  of  Masorites,  HB., 
XIV,  105;  Briill,  Jahrhiicher,  II,  174;  for  Joshua  see  Harkavy, 
Zikron,  V,  no. 

°*  Commentaire  sur  Sefer  Yesira  ....  publie  et  traduit  par  Mayer 
Lambert,  Paris,  1901. 

"The  year  242  Contractuuni=zg2,i  common  era,  is  given  by  Saadia 
himself  (ed.  Lambert,  p.  52;  French  translation,  p.  76)  as  that  in 
which  the  work  was  written,  hence  not  in  Egypt,  as  is  generally 
assumed.  This  matter  will  be  discussed  in  detail  later  on,  when  the 
work  comes  up  for  special  consideration. 

"  Saadia  himself  at  the  end  of  his  Introduction  to  the  Commen- 
tary (Arabic  text,  p.  13,  lines  5  f.,  French  translation,  p.  29)  gives 
as  a  reason  for  his  writing  the  commentary  "that  the  book  is  not 
of  frequent  currency  and  that  only  few  people  are  able  to  under- 
stand it"  (DNJ^«  t»  n^riD^t^  i^'?)  |^?-iin^N  n^ri3  3^?nD  in  d^^  is 

rri^y  ^i>'^).  This,  however,  seems  to  mean  only  that  the  book, 
because  of  its  unintelligibilit}^  was  not  popular  among  the  people  in 
general,  and  does  not  exclude  its  being  well  known  and  much  studied 
by  scholars,  who  alone  concern  us  here. 


SAADIA'S  EARLY  EDUCATION  45 

Italy.  Aside  from  these  general  considerations  there  is 
strong  evidence  that  Saadia  knew  the  Sefer  Yemrah  at  the 
time  he  wrote  the  'Agron  and  was  indeed  influenced  thereby 
as  to  certain  grammatical  doctrines.  This  is  almost  a  cer- 
tainty as  regards  Saadia's  main  grammatical  work,  the  Kitdh 
al-Liigah  ("  Book  on  the  Language  "),  which  was  probably 
written  in  Egypt  soon  after  the  'Agron.  This  book  is 
no  longer  in  existence/^  but  various  particulars  found  in 
the  works  of  later  authors  made  it  possible  for  Bacher^  to 
give  a  full  description  of  its  original  plan  and  arrangement,  as 
well  as  of  its  contents.  In  his  Commentary  on  the  Sefer 
Yesirah  "^  Saadia  himself,  in  the  course  of  his  discussion  of  its 
grammatical  features,  not  only  quotes  lengthy  passages  from 
his  Kitdh,  but  also  refers  to  the  latter  for  a  more  elaborate 
treatment  of  certain  points.  If  a  more  convincing  fact  is 
needed  to  prove  that  Saadia  had  the  Sefer  Yeqirah  before 
him  when  he  wrote  the  grammar,  it  is  furnished  by  the 
established  circumstance  that  Saadia's  grammatical  theories 
coincide  in  many  particulars  "^  with  those  of  his  contempor- 
ary, the  famous  Masorite  Moses  b.  Aaron  b,  Asher,  con- 
cerning whom  the  Sefer  Yedrah's  influence  has  been  proved 
beyond  a  doubt.*"  It  should  further  be  noted  in  this  con- 
nection that  Saadia  was  the  one  who  first  suggested  "  that  the 
Sefer  Yemrah  originated  in  Palestine. 

Finally,  among  the  general  promoters  of  intellectual  life 
at  about  the  time  of  Saadia,  mention  must  be  made  of  the 
Karaites.  It  is  now  the  consensus  of  opinion  among  scholars 
that  there  is  no  foundation  for  the  claim  made  by  Karaite 

**  Some  fragments  were  published  by  Harkavy  in  Ha-Goren,  VI 
(1897).  pp.  30-38. 

*"  Afifcingc,  pp.  38-60. 

"Ed.  Lambert,  p.  ys,  1-  3  from  bottom,  French  part,  p.  Qy  ;  comp. 
Bacher,  Anfange,  p.  40,  n.  3;  45,  n.  6,  especially  the  Bibliography, 
below,  p.  307,  no.  2. 

"  Bacher,  Anfange,  p.  44,  n.  4;  47,  n.  2;  48,  no.  8. 

'^This  was  first  shown  by  D.  Rosin.  MGWJ.,  XXX  (1881),  521; 
comp.  Bacher,  ih.,  p.  21. 

'*  At  the  end  of  his  Introduction  to  the  Commentary,  p.  13,  top, 
French,  p.  29;  comp.  Bacher,  ih.,  p.  23,  top. 


46  SAADIA  GAON 

authors  and  by  some  recent  investigators,  that  the  Karaites 
were  the  first  to  enter  the  field  of  scientific  reseach,  particu- 
larly in  Hebrew  philology,  which  marks  the  beginning  of  a 
new  epoch."'  Nevertheless,  it  would  be  futile  to  deny  to  the 
Karaites  before  and  during  the  time  of  Saadia  the  merit  of 
having  been  in  some  degree  instrumental  in  bringing  about 
this  new  era  in  Jewish  literature.  They  may  not  have 
produced  works  in  general  comparable  with  Saadia's,  but 
their  very  existence  as  a  schi.smatic  sect,  their  negative 
attitude  toward  traditional  Judaism,  and  their  active  propa- 
ganda, in  speech  and  in  writing,  for  the  new  cause,  could 
not  have  failed  to  incite  a  counter-activity  among  the  Rab- 
banites.  Thus,  they  helped  to  prepare  the  intellectual  ground 
from  which  Saadia  sprang,  as  the  main  defender  of  the 
besieged  fortress  of  Rabbinism.  There  is  no  need  to 
search  for  historical  records  to  corroborate  the  course  of 
events  as  outlined.  Saadia's  own  works,  to  whatever  period 
of  his  life  they  belong,  are  the  clearest  proof.  That  he 
early  felt  the  necessity  of  combatting  the  Karaite  heresies  is 
obvious  from  the  fact  that  in  915/°'  when  but  in  his  twenty- 
third  year,  he  wrote  a  polemical  work  against  Anan,  the 
founder  of  Karaism.  This  was  followed  by  other  polemical 
writings  against  the  teachings  of  eminent  members  of  the 
sect.*^  There  is  no  room  for  doubt  that,  while  yet  in  Egypt, 
he  knew  besides  the  writings  of  Anan  also  those  of  Ben- 
jamin Nehawendi,  whom  he  mentions  twice  in  a  work  be- 
longing to  a  later  period,"  and  Daniel  Al-Kumisi,""  though 
both  had  probably  lived  in  Babylonia  or  Palestine.  The 
Karaites,  who  were  ver}^  active  in  their  efiforts  to  make  con- 
verts, early  selected  Egypt  as  a  favorable  place  for  mission- 


*®  See  above,  notes  24-32. 

[•""See  Postscript]. 

*"  For  a  detailed  account  of  Saadia's  writings  against  the  Karaites 
see  below,  pp.  263  ff. 

^'"Amdnat,  ed.  Landauer,  Leyden,  1880,  p.  201,  11.  2,  11;  '  Emunot, 
ed.  Cracow,  p.  134. 

*'  See  Schechter,  Saadyana,  pp.  41  (comp.  Poznanski,  Schechtcr's 
Saadyana,  Frankf.  a/M.,  1904.  p.  4,  ad  locum),  144,  no.  Iv;  comp. 
Poznanski.  JQR.,  XIII.  681  ff. 


SAADIA'S  EARLY  EDUCATION  47 

ary  work  ;  "  and  in  later  years  that  country,  especially  Cairo, 
became  their  main  seat.'** 

Thus  far,  the  channels  through  which  Saadia  may  have 
acquired  his  learning  in  his  earlier  years  have  been  traced 
in  a  general  way.  We  can  now  point  out  in  particular  a 
few  scholars  of  eminence  with  whom,  it  is  positively  known, 
he  came  in  contact  in  his  formative  period,  and  who  undoubt- 
edly influenced  his  career.  In  the  first  place,  mention  must  be 
made  of  that  famous  physician  and  philosopher  Isaac  b. 
Sulaiman  Israeli,  whom  the  Christian  scholastics  style 
eximkis  monarcha  medicinae''^  Israeli  died  about  953,  and, 
as  he  is  reported  to  have  lived  over  a  hundred  years,  he 
was  much  older  than  Saadia.  Like  Saadia  he  was  a  native 
of  Egypt,  where  he  was  a  practising  oculist  for  some  years. 
Subsequently '"  he  was  called  as  physician  to  the  court  of 
Ziyadat  Allah,  the  third  and  last  of  the  Aglabite  rulers  of 
the  Berber  lands,  who  had  established  their  seat  in  Kairwan. 
Whether  Saadia,  who  was  a  young  man  when  Israeli  assumed 
his  position  in  Kairwan,  ever  met  him  personally,  is  hard  to 
say.     It  is  known  that  the  two  men  had  a  lively  correspon- 

^'Cornp.  Pinsker,  Likkfite,  IT,  14,  bottom;  Steinschneider,  JQR., 
XVIII,  100,  bottom;  Geiger,  0:;ar  Nechmad,  IV,  34. 

'"  Among  the  learned  Karaites,  who  probably  lived  in  Egypt  and 
there  disputed  with  Saadia,  is  Abii-'l-Surri  Ben  Zuta,  frequently 
quoted  by  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra;  comp.  Poznanski,  Karaite  Literary 
Opponents  of  Saadiah  Gaon,  London,  1908,  p.  4;  Gottheil,  in  Har- 
kavy's  Festschrift,  German  part,  pp.  115  ff. 

"  For  all  details  on  Israeli  see  Steinschneider,  Arab.  Liter.,  §  28, 
and  recently  Guttmann,  Die  philosophischen  Lehren  dcs  Isaak  b. 
Salomon  Israeli,  Miinster,  i/W.,  191 1. 

"  The  date  is  not  certain.  Graetz  gives  the  year  904,  which  is 
considered  arbitrary  by  Steinschneider,  JQR.,  XIII,  96.  The  author 
of  the  article  "  Egypt "  in  the  JE.,  V,  6ib,  declares  that  Israeli  "  was 
recalled  to  Egypt  from  Kairwan,  and  entered  the  service  of  'Ubaid 
Allah,"  and  that  he  was  still  there,  in  royal  service,  at  the  death  of 
Al-Mansur  (952).  He  is  evidently  unaware  of  the  fact  that  neither 
'Ubaid  Allah,  the  first,  nor  Al-Mansiir,  the  third  caliph  of  the  Fa- 
timide  dynasty  had  ever  ruled  over  Egypt,  which  was  conquered  only 
by  Al-Mu'izz,  the  fourth  Fatimide  caHph,  in  972.  Israeli  was  thus 
never  "  recalled  "  to  Egypt. 


48  SAADIA  GAON 

dence  on  scientific  subjects  for  some  time  previous  to  Saadia's 
departure  from  Egypt.  This  is  explicitly  stated  by  Diinash 
Ibn  Tamim  of  Kairwan,  a  pupil  of  Israeli,  in  a  commen- 
tary on  the  Sefer  Yezirah'^  written  by  Israeli  and  recast 
by  Dunash,  whose  version  alone  has  been  preserved,  in  two 
Hebrew  translations  from  the  Arabic.  Diinash  informs  the 
reader  at  the  beginning  of  his  commentary  that  at  the  time 
when  this  correspondence  took  place  he  was  twenty  years 
old,  and  Israeli  used  to  show  him  Saadia's  letters,  to  test  his 
ability  to  understand  and  explain  their  scientific  content.  He 
adds,  not  without  self-complacency,  that  he  was  able  to  detect 
the  mistakes  made  by  the  writer,  which  pleased  the  teacher 
greatly,  because  of  Diinash's  youth  at  the  time.  Assuming 
that  the  correspondence  referred  to  was  going  on  for  some 
time  before  Saadia's  emigration  to  Palestine  in  915,  we  ccme 
to  the  conclusion  that  Dianash  was  born  at  about  the  same 
time  as  Saadia,  in  892,  not  in  908,  as  has  been  hitherto 
asserted.'* 

Dunash  does  not  show  much  admiration  for  Saadia.  He 
speaks  of  him  rather  disrespectfully,'"  though  at  the  time 
when  this  commentary  was  written,  in  955-956,  Saadia  was 
dead,  and  his  fame  was  established,  of  which  facts  there  is 
no  hint  in  the  book.  This  is  strange,  but  it  is  not  the  only 
difficulty  in  connection  with  this  commentary,  which  in 
other  respects  too,  which  cannot  be  discussed  here,  is  one 
of  the  most  complicated  literary  problems.'"  However,  the 
attitude  of  Dunash  toward  Saadia  is  of  little  importance. 

''^  Poorly  edited,  with  irrelevant  notes,  by  M.  Grossberg,  London, 
1902.  On  the  question  of  the  authorship  of  this  commentary  see  the 
references  given  below,  note  76. 

"Comp.  Poznanski,  |t5n^"5  ^^^^,  p.  18,  top.     [See  Postscript.] 

"  1  do  not  know  on  what  ground  Steinschneider  bases  his  assertion 
to  the  contrary  {Hehr.  Ubersctzungen,  p.  399,  and  Bibliotheca  Mathe- 
matica,  1895,  p.  25,  bottom)  ;  comp.  for  instance  the  passages  pp.  24, 
46,  73'  The  main  passage,  p.  17,  even  contains  clear  allusions  to 
Saadia's  conceit. 

"These  problems  were  treated  exhaustively  by  Steinschneider, 
Hebr.  Ubcrs.,  pp.  394-402 ;  Arab.  Liter,  der  Juden,  pp.  44,  yz. 


SAADIA'S  EARLY  EDUCATION  49 

We  are  here  concerned  merely  to  bring  out  the  points  that 
as  early  as  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  when  Israeli 
was  born,  Egypt  was  a  fertile  soil  to  produce  men  of  the 
highest  type  of  learning  and  that  Saadia  did  not  rise  as  a 
solitary  palm  in  a  desert,  but  grew  up  in  an  inteller>'ial 
atmosphere  created  by  scholars  of  various  occupations  and 
interests,  though  only  a  few  of  them  are  recorded  in  the 
available  sources  of  our  history." 

Besides  Israeli  and  Dunash  numerous  scholars  are  known 
to  have  lived  in  Kairwan  with  whom  Saadia  had  re- 
lations, or  whose  literary  productions  he  knew.  There  are 
references  in  one  of  his  own  works  to  the  "  men  of  Kair- 
wan "  and  the  "  men  of  Africa,"  who  "  in  our  time  "  wrote 
a  Hebrew  work  provided  with  accents  and  arranged  in 
verses  in  the  manner  of  the  Biblical  writings.  This  work, 
he  says,  served  him  as  a  model  for  his  own.^^  It  is  true  that 
these  references  to  the  scholars  of  Kairwan  occur  in  a  work 
written  by  Saadia  long  after  his  emigration  from  Egypt ;  but 
considering  the  facts  that  the  Jewish  community  of  Kairwan 
was  very  prominent  during  the  ninth  century,  and  that  even 
the  Babylonian  Geonim  had  carried  on  correspondence  with 

"  Comp.  Guttmann,  Die  philosophischen  Lehren  des  Isaak  hen 
Salomon  Israeli,  Miinster  i/W.,  191 1,  p.  2.  Of  the  many  Muham- 
medan  scholars  in  Egypt  before  Saadia  mention  has  been  made 
above,  note  37.  Here  the  Jewish  scholar  Mashallah,  should  be 
pointed  out,  "  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  eminent  astrologers " 
(770-820),  who,  as  Steinschneider  assumes  (Arab.  Liter.,  §  18; 
Bibliotheca  Mathematica,  1894,  p.  zj),  lived  in  Egypt.  He  is  credited 
with  thirty  works  on  astronomy  and  astrology.  Among  the  learned 
contemporaries  of  Saadia  mentioned  by  Mas'udi  (see  above,  notes 
20,  zy)  is  one  Sa'id  b.  'Ali  Ibn  «^»^ti'N*  of  Rakka  in  Egypt,  perhaps 
a  Jew;  comp.  Steinschneider,  JQR.,  XI,  328.  In  Kairwan  there 
lived  at  that  time  a  Jewish  scholar  by  the  name  Ziyad  b.  Halfun, 
who  participated  in  the  war  waged  by  "Ubaid  Allah ;  see  Wiistenf  eld, 
Geschichte  der  Fatimiden  Chalifen,  34,  59;  Steinschneider,  Arab. 
Liter.,  p.  44,  n.  4.    For  Judah  b.  Joseph  al-Rakki  see  above,  note  37. 

'*  Harkav}^  Zikron,  V,  151,  1.  19 ;  163,  8 ;  180,  10,  especially  pp.  209  f . ; 
com.D.  Schechtcr,  JQR.,  XVI,  ^27;  Poznanski,  Anshe  Kairwan,  p.  2. 


50  S  A  AD  I A  GAON 

some  of  its  learned  members  as  early  as  the  eighth  century," 
it  would  be  absurd  to  assume  that  Isaac  Israeli  was  the  only 
scholar  of  Kairwan  whom  Saadia  knew  while  in  Fayyiim, 
and  that  of  all  other  '*  men  of  Africa  "  he  learned  only  after 
he  himself  had  left  that  continent  and  was  travelling  in  Asia."' 
No  doubt  the  other  early  works  which  he  mentions  in  connec- 
tion with  those  of  the  Kairwan  scholars  were  also  known 
to  him  before  he  left  Egypt. 

Especial  mention  should  be  accorded  to  a  passage  in  his 
Introduction  to  the  'Agron,  in  which  he  informs  us  that  to 
substantiate  his  views  he  cites  parallels  from  the  works  of 
the  ancient  poets,  as  Jose  b.  Jose,  Yannai,  Eleazar  KaHr,  and 
others,  whenever  this  is  possible,  and  then  adds,  "  As  to 
the  productions  of  more  recent  poets,  I  shall  quote  their 
authors  by  name  only  when  I  wish  to  praise  them,  but  not 
when  I  criticize  their  words."  ^  The  passage  shows  that 
Saadia  had  a  literature  of  considerable  extent  at  his  dis- 
posal when  he  wrote  his  first  work.  As  the  main  part  of  the 
'Agron  is  lost,  it  is  of  course  impossible  to  identify  the 
authors  or  their  works.  Ouly  the  name  of  one  poet,  Nahra- 
wani,  is  preserved  in  a  passage  quoted  from  the  'Agron  by 
a  certain  Mubashshir,*'  a  contemporary  of  Saadia,  who  criti- 

"  Poznanski,  Anshc  Kairwan,  pp.  sf.;  comp.  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I, 
32,  51,  n.  2. 

**•  Comp.  Harkav)',  Zikron,  V,  35,  n.  2.  The  words  "  in  our  time  " 
(J<in  ^?J1Vy  "'S)  cited  above  do  not  necessarily  mean  the  last,  or  the 
present  year ;  they  may  as  well  denote  a  period  of  twenty-five  years. 

^^Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  51. 

"  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  55,  n.  i,  tries  to  prove  against  Stein- 
schneider  that  the  name  is  not  the  translation  of  the  Arabic  Mu- 
bashshir,  but  the  Hebrew  Mehasser  ("lti'30)  which  is  an  epithet  of 
Elijah,  meaning  "  Proclaimer  of  Good  Tidings."  It  is  strange,  how- 
ever, that  of  all  the  bearers  of  this  name  enumerated  by  Ginzberg, 
there  is  not  one  who  lived  outside  of  the  Arabic-speaking  countries. 
If  the  name  was  originally  Hebrew,  we  might  as  well  expect  it  to  be 
used  by  Jews  living  elsewhere ;  for  further  details  on  this  name  see 
Steinschneider,  JQR.,  XII,  196,  and  Margoliouth,  JQR.,  XII,  708; 
XIII,  156,  no.  2;  comp.  also  below,  p.  324,  under  Lamentations. 


SAADl/VS  EARLY  EDUCATION  51 

cized  the  views  laid  down  in  that  work.*^     The  identity  of 
this  Nahrawani  is  not  fully  assured.^* 

But  high  as  the  standard,  whether  of  general  civilization 
or  Jewish  learning,  would  appear  to  have  been  in  the  Orient, 
both  from  what  has  been  said  above  and  from  what  is  gen- 
erally known,  it  does  not  suffice  to  explain  Saadia's  great- 
ness and  many-sidedness.  The  great  men  whom  we  have 
enumerated  so  far,  were  men  of  prominence  in  the  circum- 
scribed fields  of  literature  and  science  to  which  they  devoted 
themselves.  There  were  talmudists,  philosophers,  gram- 
marians, and  the  like,  previous  to  and  contemporaneously 
with  Saadia.  But  with  the  exception  of  Israeli  none  of  them 
attained  to  distinction  outside  of  his  particular  line  of  work. 
Saadia  is  the  first  Jewish  scholar  whose  universal  mind 
embraced  all  the  branches  of  Jewish  learning  known  in  his 
time.  He  acquired  a  mastery  in  each  department  that  throws 
into  the  shade  the  efforts  of  all  his  predecessors  and  con- 
temporaries, and  that  has  won  for  him  the  honorable  title 

*^Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  68-73;  comp.  Bacher,  Anfdnge,  p.  41. 

**  See  Harkavy's  discussion  of  the  matter,  ib.,  pp.  115  f.;  comp.  also 
ib.  p.  70,  n.  4,  and  Ha-Goren,  II  86;  Epstein,  REJ.,  XLII  (1901), 
208.  It  may  be  added  in  this  connection  that  the  appearance  in 
Northern  Africa  of  Eldad  ha-Dani,  shortly  before  the  close  of  the 
ninth  century,  which  stirred  up  the  Kairwan  community  and  elicited 
a  responsum  from  the  Gaon  of  Sura,  produced  some  literature, 
which  must  have  become  known  to  Saadia  in  Egypt  (see  for  Eldad 
the  references  in  Steinschneider's  Geschichtsliteratur  der  Juden, 
§  13).  I  also  believe  that  Saadia  knew  and  made  use  of  the  Book 
Josipon,  which  will  be  proved  in  detail  in  my  forthcoming  edition  of 
Saadia's  'Amdnat  in  the  Flebrew  translation  of  Ibn  Tibbon  (Emunot 
we-Deot,  end  of  chapter  8).  This  was  originally  the  opinion  of 
Zunz,  but  later,  following  Rapoport  (in  his  biography  of  Kalir,  note 
7;  see  the  collection  H^D^ti^  niy''1\  Warsaw,  1904,  p.  30),  he  declared 
his  former  opinion  as  "wholly  groundless";  see  Zunz,  Gottcsdienst- 
liche  Vortrdge  (1892),  p.  159,  n.  d.  For  the  present  I  wish  to  point 
out  that  Josipon  is  referred  to  also  in  the  Commentary  on  the  Sefer 
Yezirah  by  Diinash  (or  Israeli),  ed.  Grossberg,  p.  2)7 \  comp.  also 
Dukes,  Beitrdge,  p.  99, 


52  SAADIA  GAON 

accorded  to  him  by  an  admirer,  ''  the  chief  spokesman  in  all 
matters  of  learning  "  (DIPD  ^Dn  D>nm»n  ti'KI).'' 

^  This  title  of  honor  was  given  first  to  R.  Judah  b.  Ilai,  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  teachers  of  the  Mishnah  in  the  second  century; 
comp.  h.  Berdkot,  63&.  There  the  phrase  designates  R.  Judah  as 
the  first  speaker  in  the  assembly  of  scholars,  as  the  one  who  was 
to  open  the  learned  discussions.  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra  was  the  first 
to  apply  this  Talmudic  title  to  Saadia,  but  in  a  diverted  sense,  mean- 
ing to  say,  that  "  Saadia  first  introduced  the  cultivation  of  all 
branches  of  Jewish  knowledge,  which  was  continued  ever  since 
without  noticeable  interruption"  (Steinschneider,  Bibliotheca  Mathe- 
matical 1894,  p.  T02)  ;  comp.  Steinschneider,  Arab.  Literatiir,  p.  46, 
and  Ewald-Dukes,  Beiirage,  II,  10. 


THE  SECOND  PERIOD 
Chapter  III 

SAADIA'S  EMIGRATION  TO  THE  EAST 
(4675  =  915)^^ 

Dividing  the  life  of  a  human  being  into  periods  marked 
by  events  carries  with  it  the  danger  of  arbitrariness.  Man's 
life  in  reality  is  a  continuous,  though  fluctuating,  process 
of  becoming  and  unfolding,  which  does  not  halt  at  any 
mental  land-mark.  Circumstances  may  step  in  one's  way  and 
prevent  one  from  proceeding  on  a  course  as  planned,  but 
the  life-energy  of  an  individual  is  not  paralyzed  thereby. 
After  many  detours  it  asserts  itself  in  its  own  way.  This 
is  especially  true  of  men  of  genius  and  great  mental  energy 
of  whatever  kind. 

In  designating  Saadia's  emigration  to  the  East  as  the 
beginning  of  the  second  period  in  his  career,  we  do  not 
mean  to  convey  the  idea  that  this  external  event  was  the 
cause  or  the  efifect  of  any  radical  change  in  Saadia's  pur- 
suits and  aspirations,  thus  becoming  essentially  respon- 
sible for  what  we  know  of  him  from  history.  The  chief 
aspect  of  Saadia's  life  as  generally  presented  is  that  of  a 
great  scholar,  and  perhaps,  to  use  a  hackneyed  modern 
phrase,  of  an  "  active  worker  "  in  the  cause  of  traditional 
Judaism.  He  had  begun  his  labors  in  both  fields  before  he 
left  Egypt.  His  first  literary  work  (the  'Agron)  was  issued 
in  913,  and  two  years  later,  before  departing  from  his  native 
country ,*°"  he  wrote  another  to  defend  Rabbinism  against 
the  innovations  of  Anan.  His  work  in  the  following  period, 
though  greater  in  scope  and  extent,  was  but  a  continuation  of 
one  or  the  other  form  of  literary  activity.  Not  even  his  ap- 
pointment to  the  Gaonate  of  Sura,  important  as  this  incident 

[*'"See  Postscript]. 

S3 


54  SAADIA  GAON 

is  from  the  viewpoint  of  his  public  career,  was  in  any  way 
instrumental  in  the  making  of  Saadia,  for  by  that  time  (928) 
he  had  passed  the  formative  years.  We  have  to  think  of 
Saadia  simply  as  one  who,  from  his  early  boyhood  to  the 
end  of  his  days,  was  animated  by  two  desires :  to  acquire  and 
impart  knowledge  and  to  oppose  the  enemies  of  Talmudic 
Judaism.  All  the  positions  and  relations  into  which  he  was 
brought  during  the  period  we  are  now  to  consider  must  be 
viewed  merely  as  episodes  in  his  Hfe-hi story.  They  help  us 
greatly  to  appreciate  the  man's  character  and  disposition,  but 
they  do  not  represent  a  particular  and  significant  phase  in  his 
intellectual  development.  It  was  not  by  virtue  of  these  that 
he  became  the  founder  of  a  new  epoch  in  Jewish  history. 

It  is  nevertheless  useful,  if  only  as  a  matter  of  form, 
to  treat  Saadia's  arrival  in  the  Holy  Land  as  a  turning-point 
in  his  career.  It  is  at  this  juncture  that  Saadia,  however 
slowly  and  dimly,  emerges,  as  it  were,  from  Egyptian  dark- 
ness into  the  light  of  documentary  history. 

It  has  been  generally  assumed,  hitherto,  that  Saadia  lived 
in  Egypt  until  the  year  928,  when,  owing  to  his  exceptional 
reputation  as  a  scholar  and  to  the  lack  of  great  men  in  Baby- 
lonia, he  was  called  by  the  temporal  head  of  Babylonian 
Jewry  from  his  native  country  to  occupy  the  seat  of  the 
Gaons  of  Sura.^  It  was  also  pointed  out,  with  some  pride 
and  satisfaction,  that  the  Babylonian  authorities,  for  the  first 
time  disregarding  a  tacit  rule  or  custom  to  appoint  as  Gaon 
only  a  native  of  Babylonia,  had  resorted  to  the  importation 
of  a  foreign  scholar."  The  opening  of  the  Genizah  has 
changed  the  face  of  this  chapter  of  Jewish  history.  Two 
little  scraps  of  paper  preserved  among  the  numberless  shreds 
of  literature  in  the  Cairene  mausoleum  for  dilapidated  books 
make  it  certain  that  Saadia  had  departed  from  Egypt  not 
later  than  915,  and  had  sojourned  for  many  years  in  various 

**The  source  for  this  view  is  a  passage  in  the  T\'?1\>\]  TID  of 
Abraham  Ibn  Baud,  who,  as  it  seems,  misunderstood  his  source, 
namely  the  Epistle  of  Sherira  Gaon ;  see  below,  notes  125,  126. 

*'  Graetz,  History  of  the  Jews,  English  translation.  III,  193,  and 
as  late  as  1902,  S.  Kraus  in  lezuish  EncycL,  II,  413. 


SAADIA'S  EMIGRATION  TO  THE  EAST  55 

parts  of  Palestine,  Syria,  and  Babylonia  prior  to  his  instal- 
lation in  the  office  of  Gaon. 

These  fragments  are  parts  of  two  letters  written  by  him 
somewhere  in  Babylonia,  during  the  winter  of  the  year 
922  (January-March),  and  addressed  to  three  of  his  former 
pupils  who  had  remained  in  Egypt/^  The  master  assures 
his  disciples  that  his  "  love  and  affection  for  [them]  *'' 
has  never  waned,  for  educating  the  young  leaves  indelible 
traces  in  the  heart  [of  the  teacher],""  the  more  when  it  has 
been  undertaken  for  the  sake  of  the  fear  of  God  and  the 
glorification  of  His  name.  As  I  have  been  desolate  ever 
since  I  left  my  wife  ^^  and  children,  so  I  have  grieved  over 
my  separation  from  you.  May  it  be  the  will  of  the  Almighty 
that  I  see  you  '^  again  in  health  and  happiness.  It  is  now 
six  and  a  half  years  that  no  word  from  you  has  reached  me. 
I  even  wrote  to  you  condoling  with  you  over  the  death  of 
the  venerable  old  man,®"^  blessed  be  his  memory,  but  I  saw  no 
answer.  Only  recently  I  was  told  by  our  friend  R.  David, 
son  of  R.  Abraham,  that  you  had  written  to  him  and  re- 
quested him  to  secure  the  opinions  of  the  heads  of  the 
academies  regarding  the  fixation  of  the  months  Marheshwan 

®*  The  first  letter,  part  of  which  is  given  here  in  English  transla- 
tion, was  published  first  by  Schechter  in  the  JQR.,  XIV  (1901),  59, 
also  Saadyana,  pp.  24  ff.,  while  the  second  was  published  earlier  by 
Neubauer,  JQR.,  IX,  37  and,  with  a  French  translation,  also  by 
Epstein,  REJ.,  XLII,  201  ff.  Both  were  then  re-edited  with  addi- 
tional notes  by  Bornstein,  np^HD,  pp.  67-71 ;  see  below,  Appendix, 
p.  412,  nos.  4-5. 

*'The  passage  might  also  be  translated,  "your  love  and  affection 
for  me,"  but  the  corresponding  passage  at  the  beginning  of  the 
second  letter  supports  the  rendering  as  given  in  the  text. 

***The  Hebrew  here  is  rather  obscure  and  none  of  the  editors  has 
commented  upon  it.     The  wording  suggests  Is.  28,  16. 

*^  Literally,  "my  tent,"  but  the  word  ^HX,  like  r\^1  (house),  is 
used  in  a  figurative  sense  to  designate  the  mistress  of  the  house; 
comp.  Moed  Katan,  yh ;  Bereshit  rabbah,  section  41,  §  4;  Shabbat, 
118^   (the  saying  of  R.  Jose). 

""  The  parallel  passage  in  the  second  letter  reads  here  "  to  make 
me  see  thetn  (i.  e.  his  family)  and  you"  (DD^JDI  DH^JD). 

"*  Probably  the  grandfather  of  the  pupils. 


56  SAADIA  GAON 

and  Kislew  of  the  year  1233  [Seleucidan  era  =  November 
and  December,  921,  common  era] .  I  presume  that  you  wrote 
to  him,  and  not  to  me,  only  because,  in  accordance  with 
previous  reports,  you  thought  that  I  was  still  in  Palestine. 
He  himself  [R.  David]  suggested  that  you  seem  to  have 
thought  so.  He  further  requested  me  to  write  to  you  and 
to  inform  you  [regarding  the  state  of  affairs] ."  ^ 

The  rest  of  this  letter,  as  well  as  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
second  letter,  written  two  months  later,  deals  with  the  ques- 
tion of  the  calendar,  which  does  not  concern  us  for  the 
present.  But  it  should  be  mentioned  that  in  both  letters  we 
are  informed  incidentally  that  the  writer  had  spent  the  pre- 
ceding summer,  or  part  of  it  (921),  in  Aleppo  (Syria),  and 
from  the  second  letter  we  learn  that  he  returned  thence 
to  Bagdad. 

The  important  facts  derived  from  these  documents  are 
the  following.  Saadia  had  been  married  in  Egypt,  and  left 
a  wife  and  children  behind  when  he  emigrated  to  the  East. 
He  was  recognized  as  a  scholar  and  teacher  in  his  native 
country,  and  from  his  new  home  kept  up  a  correspondence 
with  his  former  pupils.  He  left  Egypt  in  June  or  July, 
915,  and  lived  for  some  time  in  Palestine,''  then  in  Bagdad 
and  in  Aleppo.^^  From  Aleppo  he  returned  to  Bagdad,  in 
all  likelihood  before  the  Jewish  New  Year's  festival 
(autumn,  921).  Incidentally  we  learn  also  of  a  certain 
R.  David,  who,  as  the  epithet  "  our  friend  "  indicates,  was 
known  to  Saadia's  pupils  in  Egypt,  and  like  Saadia  may  have 
been  a  former  resident  of  that  country,  but  now  lived  in 
Babylonia.    The  father  of  this  R.  David  is  possibly  identi- 

"^The  Hebrew  text  suggests  here  the  supplement  "that  it  is  not 
so,"  meaning  to  say  that  he  is  no  longer  in  Palestine,  A  comparison 
with  the  corresponding  passage  in  the  second  letter,  however,  proves 
that  he  has  reference  to  the  matter  discussed  by  him  in  the  following 
lines,  the  dispute  with  Ben  Meir,  which  is  the  main  burden  of  the 
letter.  The  words  supplied  by  me  should  therefore  be  taken  in  the 
same  sense. 

^'^  See  below,  pp.  64  f.  [and  especially  Postscript]. 

^  Comp.  Poznanski,  The  Karaite  Literary  Opponents  of  Saadnah 
Caon,  p.  14. 


SAADIA'S  EMIGRATION  TO  THE  EAST  57 

cal  with  the  R.  Abraham  who  acted  as  the  secretary  of 
Saadia  several  years  later,  and  who  is  the  author  of  the 
panegyric  which  was  discussed  above."' 

What  induced  Saadia  to  leave  his  birth-place,  to  sep- 
arate from  his  kith  and  kin,  and  to  wander  about  in  foreign 
lands,  cannot  be  made  out  from  these  sources.  The  sugges- 
tion has  been  made  that  his  thirst  for  knowledge,  which,  he 
thought,  was  more  readily  obtainable  in  the  East,  and  particu- 
larly his  desire  to  come  in  closer  contact  with  the  main  repre- 
sentatives of  Jewish  learning  in  the  two  Babylonian 
academies,  drove  him  from  Africa  to  Asia.^^  Others  think 
that  he  started  out  originally  with  the  pious  intention  of 
settling  on  the  holy  soil  of  Palestine,'*''  but  that  untoward 
circumstances  forced  him  to  proceed  further.  In  either 
case  his  family  was  to  follow  at  some  later  period. 
Another  suggestion  may  be  derived  from  the  history  of  his 
time.  He  may  have  left  Egypt  because  of  the  political 
unrest  and  the  perils  of  war  that  had  troubled  the  country 
since  the  new  dynasty  of  caliphs,  the  Fatimide,  had  pitched 
its  tent  in  Kairwan  (909),  the  closest  neighbor  of  Egypt.'""' 

But  these  assumptions  can  serve  at  best  only  as  explana- 
tions  for  Saadia's  departure   from  Egypt  and  later   from 

®^  Pp.  28  ff.  This  possible  identity  has  been  overlooked,  so  far  as  I 
can  make  out,  by  all  who  have  dealt  with  the  matter,  also  by 
Poznanski,  Schechter's  Saadyana,  p.  8,  s.  v.  Abraham  ha-Kohen; 
comp.  above,  note  13. 

**  Eppenstein,  MGWJ.,  1910,  p.  314  (Beitrdge,  p.  90)  ;  comp.  above, 
p.  43. 

^  Bacher,  JE.,  X,  579- 

^"°  In  914  a  large  army  sent  by  the  first  Fatimide  caliph,  'Ubaidallah 
Al-Mahdi,  invaded  northern  Egypt  under  the  leadership  of  his  son, 
Abu-'l-Kasim,  who  later  succeeded  to  the  throne,  conquering  the  city 
of  Alexandria  and  other  parts  of  the  country.  After  much  fighting, 
which  must  have  lasted  over  a  year,  the  Egyptians  succeeded  in 
driving  out  the  intruders,  who  are  said  to  have  left  7000  dead  on  the 
field.  In  consequence  an  epidemic  broke  out  in  Egypt  and  the  adjacent 
countries,  killing  thousands  of  people,  among  them  numerous  well- 
known  scholars.  The  defeated  caliph  did  not,  however,  give  up  the 
fight  but  prepared  for  another  invasion,  though  the  plan  was  not 
carried  out  until  three  years  later,  when  Abu-'l-Kasim  actually  took 


58  SAADIA  GAON 

Palestine  to  Babylonia.  None  of  them  explains  why  he 
did  not  return  home  when  his  attempts  to  establish  himself 
elsewhere  had  failed,  especially  as  he  yearned  to  rejoin  his 
family,  and,  as  we  shall  see  later,  prayed  for  this  consum- 
mation. It  would  be  surprising  in  the  extreme  if,  for  no  other 
reasons  than  those  cited,  a  man  like  Saadia,  who  was  to 
become  the  Gaon  of  Sura,  the  religious  head  of  all  Israel, 
should,  for  nearly  seven  years  and  perhaps  longer,  have 
accepted  separation  from  his  wife  and  children,  and  lived 
the  life  of  an  itinerant  scholar.  TravelHng  Jewish  scholars 
are  not,  indeed,  rare  phenomena  in  later  mediaeval  history. 
None  of  the  more  prominent  instances,  however,  that  might 
be  thought  of  in  this  connection,  is  in  any  way  similar  to  that 
of  Saadia. 

It  would  therefore  appear  that  Saadia  did  not  leave 
Egypt  voluntarily,  either  because  he  was  seeking  knowledge, 
or  because  he  wanted  to  live  in  the  Holy  Land.  He  was 
either  banished  by  the  authorities  for  some  real  or  fancied 
offense,  or  he  apprehended  grave  danger  to  his  life,  and 
decided  to  go  into  exile  before  it  was  too  late.  As  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  observe  later,  Saadia  was  of  a  somewhat 
pugnacious  disposition.  He  was  a  man  of  iron  will  and  un- 
bending determination,  coupled  with  a  keen  sense  of  justice 
and  uprightness.  A  man  of  this  type  may  have  a  few  friends 
and  admirers,  but  certainly  many  more  enemies  and  adver- 
saries. We  further  know  that  Saadia  began  his  battle  with 
the  Karaites  by  writing  a  book  against  Anan,  the  founder 
of  the  sect.  It  was  written  while  Saadia  was  still  in  Egypt, 
and  it  was  the  first  signal  of  a  struggle  that  was  to  last  all 
his  life,  and  that  made  him  the  most  hated  and  most  feared 

possession  of  the  Fayyum,  Under  such  conditions  it  would  appear 
very  likely  that  Saadia  and  many  others,  of  whom  we  do  not  know 
(comp.  above,  p.  56,  with  reference  to  David  b.  Abraham),  thought 
it  best  to  leave  the  troubled  country  and  seek  refuge  among  their 
brethren  in  the  Holy  Land;  see  for  the  content  of  this  note  Wiisten- 
feld,  Geschichte  der  Fatim.  Chalifen,  pp.  50-55,  and  Aug.  Miiller, 
Der  Islam,  pp.  610  ff.  [but  see  Postscript]. 


SAADIA'S  EMIGRATION  TO  THE  EAST  59 

champion  of  Rabbinism  against  Karaism."'  Any  one  ac- 
quainted with  social  and  poHtical  conditions  in  Muham- 
medan  countries,  and  particularly  with  the  administration  of 
justice  by  the  Islamitic  rulers  of  those  days,  knows  how  little 
it  took  to  bring  death  upon  the  most  prominent  men  of  the 
country.'*"'  Slander  and  calumny  were  strong  weapons  in 
the  hands  of  revengeful  and  unscrupulous  enemies  such 
as  the  Karaites  often  proved  to  be,  and  where  these  failed, 
bribery  might  prevail.  It  does  not  require  a  great  stretch 
of  the  imagination  to  assume  that  Saadia  was  the  victim 
of  such  persecution  in  youth,  as  he  was  in  later  life,  because 
he  stood  up  unflinchingly  for  his  religious  convictions  and  for 
the  principles  of  right  and  justice.  His  emigration  from 
Egypt  as  well  as  his  prolonged  travels  in  the  East  were  thus 
against  his  will.  Like  Moses  of  old,  he  may  have  waited 
for  the  message,  '*  Go,  return  into  Egypt,  for  all  the  men  are 
dead  that  sought  thy  life."  '"^  The  message  was  never  to 
come.  He  was  not  to  see  Egypt  again.  This  supposed 
course  of  events  lends  especial  significance  to  the  repeated  '"* 
expression  of  his  desire  to  return  home.  Otherwise  it  would 
have  to  be  taken  as  a  mere  phrase,  since  no  other  obstacle 
is  imaginable  that  would  satisfactorily  explain  why  he  did 
not  carry  his  heart's  desire  into  efifect. 

I  do  not  advance  this  theory  on  account  of  its  plausibility, 
or  because  it  helps  us  out  of  a  difficulty.  It  is  again  a  frag- 
ment from  the  Genizah ""  that  suggests  the  thought  and 
throws  new  light  upon  this  very  important  period  in  Saadia's 
life.  The  nature  of  the  work,  of  which  the  fragment 
in    question    originally    formed    a    part,    cannot    be    defined 

"^  For  a  detailed  account  of  this  matter  see  the  learned  study  of 
Poznanski,  The  Karaite  Literary  Opponents  of  Saadiah  Gaon,  Lon- 
don, 1908.    For  the  book  against  Anan  see  below,  pp.  263,  379. 

'*"  Comp.  for  instance  Brockelmann,  Geschichte  der  arab.  Literatnr, 
I,  232,  no.  5,  and  Steinschneider,  JQR.,  XIII,  97. 

^"^^  Exodus,  4,  19. 

***  So  in  the  two  fragmentary  letters  discussed  above  (pp.  55  f.)  and 
in  another  fragment  translated  in  the  following  pages. 

""  Schechter,  Saadyana,  pp.   133-135. 


6o  SAADIA  GAON 

with  certainty.  What  we  have  consists  of  two  discon- 
nected leaves,  containing  together  fifty  Hnes,  written  in 
BibHcal  style  and  provided  with  vowels  and  accents,  a 
method  observable  in  other  writings  of  Saadia/*"  Unfortu- 
nately, just  where  our  interest  grows  keenest,  several  lines 
are  mutilated  beyond  repair.  From  what  remains  legible 
it  appears  that  it  formed  part  of  some  sort  of  a  diary,  evi- 
dently written  by  Saadia  on  his  journey  from  Babylonia  to 
Aleppo,"'  and  thus  preceding  the  two  letters  discussed  above, 

^"^  Schechter,  /.  c,  p.  133,  n.  2. 

^*"The  exact  time  of  this  journey  is  not  stated,  but  circumstances 
point  to  the  winter  of  the  year  920/21.    The  fact  that  it  was  winter 
is  mentioned  explicitly  in  the  second  leaf  of  the  fragment  {Saadyana, 
p.  135,  1.  2),  which  contains  also  the  information  that  the  goal  of 
the  journey  was  the  city  of   Aleppo,  giving  the  route  as   follows: 
Babylon  (probably  Bagdad,  see  Bornstein,  p.  71,  n.  2),  Arbela  (see 
Rapoport,  'Erek  Millin,  p.  192,  s.  v.  '•^'•mK),  Mosul  (see  Bornstein, 
p.  71,  n.  3).    In  the  last  city  he  met  a  "caravan  of  Arabs"  coming 
from  Aleppo,  who  described  the  hardships  they  had  experienced  on 
the  road,  adding  that  "  many  people  died  on  the  way  on  account  of 
the  heavy  snow  and  the  severe  cold."    This  induced  him  to  interrupt 
his  travel  and  to  remain  for  some  time  in  Mosul,  where  he  was 
asked  to  set  down  the  genealogy  of  R.   Judah  the   Patriarch,  the 
compiler  of  the  Mishnah,  which  he  did  (see  below,  p.  173,  no.  3). 
Now  we  have  seen  above  that  he  subsequently  carried  out  his  desire 
and  actually  visited  Aleppo  in  the  summer  of  921,     This  makes  it 
more  than  probable  that  he  stayed  in  Mosul  only  during  the  pre- 
ceding winter,   taking  up   his   interrupted   journey  as   soon   as   the 
winter   was    over.     Bornstein    (p.    71),    and    Eppenstein    (Beitrdge, 
p.  90,  n.  4)  take  the  altogether  untenable  view,  according  to  which 
the  beginning  of  the  fragment  under  discussion   (fol.  2  recto)   has 
reference  to  the  time  when  Saadia  was  about  to  leave  Egypt.    The 
passage  reads:    ....  U^^^V  \2  ""D  Xni   JINV  VIT)  X^  HflK  nVJ  ""D 
("Thou  art  young,  knowest  not  how  to  go  out  or  come  in,  for  thou 
art  twenty  ....")   and  obviously  represents  part  of  the  argument 
of  those  who  tried  to  keep  him  back  from  the  proposed  journey.    In 
the  dotted  space  after  the  word  U^^l^V  (twenty)  the  aforementioned 
authors    supply   the   word   tJ'^tJ'l    (three),    because    at   the   time    of 
Saadia's  departure  from  Egypt    (915)   he  was  23  years  old.     This 
interpretation  is  entirely  out  of  the  question,  for  Saadia  immediately 
goes  on  to  say  that  all  the  persuasions  notwithstanding  he  left  Bag- 
dad (see  above)  for  Arbela.    This,  as  we  have  shown  above,  must 
have  taken  place  during  the  winter  920/21,  when  Saadia  was  already 


SAADIA'S  EMIGRATION  TO  THE  EAST  6i 

which  were  written  subsequent  to  Saadia's  stay  in  Aleppo. 
The  first  leaf,  which  contains  a  prayer  for  protection  on 
the  way,  seems  to  have  been  written  at  the  outset  of  the 
journey.  With  a  few  words  added  in  some  places  where 
the  original  shows  a  lacuna,  it  runs  as  follows : 
"  .  .  .  .  and  now  look  down  from  Thy  holy  tabernacle  **" 
and  be  jealous  for  Thy  Torah;  [for  excellent  is  Y"^  her 
teaching-.  Not  for  the  sake  of  [Thy  servant,  O  God] ,  but  for 
the  sake  of  Thy  great  name  by  which  he  is  called,""  [guide 
me  in]"'  Thy  holy  Torah,  which  Thou  hast  given  to  us  ;  truly, 
Thou  hast  tried  my  heart  and  known  me,  hast  searched  me 
and  found  that  [I  am  innocent]."^  Now  Thy  servant  has 
set  his  face  to  go  into  the  land  of  Canaan  and  the  land  of 
[Babylonia],  for  he  heard  that  .  .  .  ." 
Here,  where  we  expect  to  hear  his  reason  for  having  emi- 
grated to  the  land  of  Canaan,  our  curiosity  is  baffled  by  a 
blank  of  about  two  lines,  and  we  remain  as  wise  as  before. 
From  the  last  three  words,  however,  it  may  be  concluded  with 
some  degree  of  probability  that  it  was  something  new  and 

28,  or  29  years  of  age,  and  the  Hebrew  text  should  be  supplied 
accordingly.  That  a  man  of  that  age  should  be  described  as  *iy^ 
(youth)  is  not  surprising.  Saadia  imitates  throughout  the  style  of 
the  Bible,  where  the  word  is  often  applied  to  men  of  mature  age ; 
comp.  e.  g.  Genesis,  41,  12,  where  Joseph,  who  according  to  Gen.  41, 
I  and  41,  46,  was  at  the  time  referred  to  by  the  chief  butler  28 
years  old,  is  called  IV ^.  In  the  passage  before  us  in  particular 
Saadia  makes  use  of  the  verse  I  Kings,  3,  7.  It  may  be  added  in 
this  connection  that  in  the  Midrash  on  Proverbs,  i,  4,  the  rabbis  of 
the  Mishnah  dispute  the  question  how  long  one  may  be  considered  a 
1V^,  R.  Meir  setting  the  limit  at  25,  and  R.  'Akiba  at  30.  [See  re- 
garding this  note  Postscript,  pp.  422  f.]. 

^"'Deuteronomy,  26,  15.  As  the  following  references  will  show,  the 
author  uses  whole  phrases  of  the  Bible  throughout. 

***The  passage  seems  to  have  read  as  follows:  "tD  Timing'  J<^P*1 
nir:in  Dn>[a:;  comp.  Proverbs,  8,  6;  Ps.  19,  15;  49,  4.  The  last 
word  might  perhaps  be  better  translated  by  meditation.  There  is, 
however,  the  difficulty  that  in  the  Bible  the  suffix  in  all  passages 
refers  to  the  individual,  while  here  it  is  made  to  refer  to  the  Torah. 

"^^^  Comp.  Deut.,  28,  10.  Saadia  uses  the  same  phrase  also  in  the 
Scfer  hn-Gdlui  (Saadyana,  6,  II.  11-12). 

"*  Comp.  Ps.,  5,  9 ;  1.39,  24, 

"*  Comp.  Ps.,  139,  I,  23. 


62  SAADIA  GAON 

unexpected  that  had  happened  and  made  him  feel  insecure 
at  home.    The  following  lines  seem  to  support  this  view  : 

"  And  now,  O  Lord,  that  Thou  hast  taken  me  out  of  my 
city,  mayest  Thou  lead  me  to  my  desire,  and  bring  me  back 
in  peace  to  the  house  of  my  father.  Turn  me  not  away 
empty  from  before  Thee,'"  for  in  the  shadow  of  Thy  mercy 
I  take  refuge.""*  O  prosper  the  way  which  I  go,"'  save  me 
from  the  hands  of  the  enemy  and  the  ambush,""  and  provide 
all  my  needs  as  those  were  provided  who  went  forth  out  of 
Egypt  "^  .  .  .  so  that  my  persecutors  may  be  confounded, 
and  my  enemies  be  put  to  shame  and  say  not  in  their  heart, 
Aha  ....  Hear,  O  God,  the  supplications  of  Thy  servant 
and  let  not  his  enemies  say.  Our  hand  is  exalted  .  .  .  ."  "* 

While  much  of  this  language  may  be  accounted  for  by  the 
desire  of  the  author  to  imitate  the  Biblical  style,  it  is  highly 
improbable  that  this  was  the  sole  motive  of  the  whole  com- 
position. At  any  rate  we  see  here  not  only  that  the  writer 
had  bitter  enemies,  but  also  that  he  was  desirous  of  return- 
ing to  his  father's  house  and  prayed  for  the  opportunity  to  do 
so.  This  surely  indicates  that  his  stay  in  Asia  was  an  en- 
forced one. 

How  long  Saadia  was  separated  from  his  family  subse- 
quent to  the  writing  of  the  quoted  letters  to  his  pupils  cannot 

*"Comp.  2  Sam.,  i,  22;  Is.,  55,  11. 

"^  Comp.  Ps.  57,  2 ;  61,  5. 

"'  Gen.,  24,  42. 

"'  This  line  is  part  of  the  prayer  prescribed  in  the  Talmud  Berakot, 
2gb  for  one  who  sets  out  on  a  journey  Cl^lTH  n^DD). 

"'  In  these  words  Saadia  evidently  alludes  to  his  departure  from 
Egypt,  comparing  himself  to  the  Israelites  in  the  narration  of  the 
Bible,  whose  needs  were  provided  for  in  the  desert. 

^^*  The  text  is  here  badly  mutilated.  I  would  suggest  the  fol- 
lowing reading:    [nvj]iD^3^    ivo^    ^D[nn    ^nip]n   ^3   "-jji^t^n^ 

'•:[tj'^]nn  ^x  '•^tj'p  ^x  lani^fc^ij^pti^n  '?i<  nj2[inijy^n].   For  the 

phrases  here  used  by  Saadia  see  Jeremiah,  17,  18;  20,  11;  Psalms, 
35,  4;  34,  6;  71,13;  35,  25;  69,  17 ',  Deuteronomy,  9,  27;  Psalms,  119, 
31,  116.  The  word  ^PT  (1.  7)  does  not  belong  to  the  text,  but  is 
probably  a  gloss  referring  to  the  placing  of  an  accent  known  under 
this  name. 


SAADIA'S  EMIGRATION  TO  THE  EAST  63 

be  learned  from  the  available  sources.  I  am  tempted  to 
believe  that  his  reunion  with  his  family  took  place  on 
Babylonian  soil  only  a  few  months  after  the  date  of  the 
letters,  that  is,  in  the  summer  of  the  year  922.  In  a  letter 
of  the  Palestinian  Ben  Meir,  whose  bitter  quarrel  with 
Saadia  will  occupy  us  in  the  next  chapter,  the  writer,  in  an 
effort  to  belittle  his  opponent,  informs  his  friends,  among 
other  things  of  a  very  discreditable  nature,  that  Saadia's 
father  was  ''  thrust  out  of  Egypt  and  died  in  Jafifa."  "'  It 
is  quite  possible  that  Saadia's  father  undertook  the  journey 
to  his  son  with  all  the  members  of  the  latter's  family,  but, 
being  advanced  in  age,  could  not  endure  the  hardships  of 
the  long  journey,  and  died  on  the  way.  Ben  Meir's  letter 
was  written  toward  the  end  of  the  summer  922.""  There  was 
then  about  half  a  year's  interval  between  this  date  and  that 
of  Saadia's  correspondence  with  his  pupils  in  Egypt  (Jan- 
uary-March, 922),  during  which  time  his  family  may  have 
moved  to  the  East.  This  view  commends  itself  for  several 
reasons.  The  year  922  was  of  decisive  importance  in 
Saadia's  career.  In  the  bitter  war  waged  at  that  time  be- 
tween Ben  Meir  on  the  one  side  and  the  Babylonian  Geonim 
on  the  other,  regarding  the  right  of  fixing  the  Jewish  calen- 
dar, it  was  Saadia's  energetic  support  of  the  latter  that 
brought  about  their  ultimate  victory.  That  his  participation 
could  be  of  such  consequence  is  proof  that  he  had  already 
gained  great  influence  among  the  Jews  of  the  Orient.  The 
Babylonian  authorities  no  doubt  had  by  that  time  recognized 
his  resolute  character  and  his  great  intellectual  power,  and 
they  probably  prevailed  upon  him  to  abandon  forever  his 
plan  of  returning  to  Egypt.  Thereupon,  having  decided 
to  make  his  permanent  abode  in  Babylonia,  it  was  natural  to 
have  his  family  follow  him  thither.  It  is  also  more  than 
probable  that  he  was  then  ofifered  a  position  of  honor  and 
income  within  the  academic  circle,  which  he  accepted. 

""  Schechter,  Saadyana,  p.  20,  n.  4;  Bornstein,  p.  90,  n.  5;  above, 
note  7. 
^'''  A  few  days  before  the  Jewish  New  Year;  see  Bornstein,  pp.  12  f. 


64  SAADIA  GAON 

In  a  letter  dated  Fifth  day,  igth  of  Tamtnuz,  1^33,  Seleu- 
cidan  Era  ( =July,  922),  of  which  only  the  closing  lines  and 
the  signature  have  been  preserved  among  the  fragments  of 
the  Genizah,  Saadia  adds  to  his  name,  so  far  as  known  for 
the  first  time,  the  title  'Alluf  Yeshudh  (  =  Master  of  Salva- 
tion)."^ The  title  'Alluf  was  usually  accorded  in  the  Baby- 
lonian colleges  to  the  scholars  who  were  third  in  rank  after 
the  Gaon.  Besides,  it  was  sometimes  granted  as  a  special 
distinction  to  foreign  scholars,  particularly  Palestinians/^ 
The  addition  Yeshuah  would  indicate  that  the  title  was  given 
to  Saadia  as  a  distinction,  in  appreciation  of  his  services  in 
the  controversy  with  Ben  Meir."^"  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
that  Saadia  was  actually  made  one  of  the  'Allufim  of  the 
Sura  academy,  and  thus  became  a  regular  member  of  the 
institution  about  six  years  prior  to  his  installation  as 
Gaon.  The  statement  of  R.  Sherira,  Gaon  of  Pumbedita 
(968-987),  that  Saadia  "was  not  one  of  the  scholars  of  the 
college,  but  from  Egypt,"  ^  does  not  mean  that  previous 
to  his  installation  he  did  not  belong  to  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  academic  body,  but  only,  as  we  might  say  to-day, 
that  he  was  not  a  graduate  of  the  college;  while  the  asser- 

^"  Schechter,  Saadyana,  p.  15,  especially  Bornstein,  p.  72,  n.  2; 
comp.  Miiller,  Introduction  to  Saadia's  fllVQ  ;i''''in  (in  Oeuvres 
completes,  vol.  IX,  p.  xxi)  ;  below,  note  332.  I  do  not  know  on  what 
ground  Bornstein,  p.  12,  asserts  that  when  the  Exilarch  turned  to 
Saadia  for  assistance  against  Ben  Meir  Saadia  had  already  been 
bearing  the  title  'Alluf. 

^^  Comp,  Ginzberg,  JE.,  s.  v.  'Alluf;  Epstein,  REJ.,  XLII,  192.  n.  4 ; 
Bornstein,  p.  48,  n.  11;  Poznanski,  D^JItJ^  D^J"'jy,  pp.  50,  62,  67; 
Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  p.  103.  It  is  therefore  not  necessary  to  assume 
with  Harkavj'-,  Oeuvres  completes,  vol.  IX,  p.  xli  (see  also  Schechter, 
Saadyana,  p.  15.  n.  i)  that  'Alluf  was  the  title  of  Saadia's  father, 
comp.  also  Harkavy  D"'j1«Jn   nmt^*n,  p.  377. 

"'Bornstein,  p.  72,  n.  2,  thinks  that  the  title  was  given  to  him  in 
recognition  of  his  successful  defense  of  traditional  Judaism  against 
Karaism.  So  far  as  the  available  historical  records  go.  Saadia's 
assumption  of  the  title  coincides  with  the  time  of  the  Ben  Meir 
controversy. 

^^  Epistle  of  R.  Sherira,  toward  the  end  (Neubauer,  MJC,  I,  40, 
top). 


SAADIA'S  EMIGRATION  TO  THE  EAST  65 

tion  of  Abraham  b.  David  (1160),  according  to  which 
Saadia  was  brought  directly  from  Egypt  and  installed  as 
Gaon,  is  based  upon  a  misinterpretation  of  R.  Sherira's 
statement,  and  does  not  deserve  credence/^  It  is  altogether 
improbable  that  Saadia  was  living  in  Egypt  when  called  to 
the  Gaonate"^;  far  more  credible  is  it  that  he  was  made 
'Alluf  during  the  Ben  Meir  controversy,  and  six  years  later 
rose  from  this  position  to  that  of  Head  of  the  Academy. 

The  foregoing  discussion  has  carried  us  a  little  beyond  the 
point  with  which  we  are  immediately  concerned.  It  was 
necessary  to  anticipate  somewhat,  in  order  to  show  that  dur- 
ing the  years  of  his  sojourn  in  the  East,  Saadia  main- 
tained the  same  high  standard  of  learning  and  Hterary  pro- 
ductivity that  had  made  him  a  conspicuous  figure  in  his 
native  country.  Thus  he  became  early  an  eminent  factor  in 
the  intellectual  and  religious  life  of  the  Jews  of  the  Orient. 

There  is  evidence  that  some  of  his  works  were  writ- 
ten during  this  period,  though  no  definite  dates  can  be 
given ."^  The  first  few  years  he  probably  spent  in  Palestine, 
perhaps  in  Tiberias,  where  he  made  the  acquaintance  of 

"^Cornp.  Poznanski,  REJ.,  XLVIII  (1904),  149,  n.  3;  Bornstein, 
p.  72;  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  69,  note. 

"^This  is  the  view  also  of  A.  Epstein  in  REJ.,  XLII  (1901),  201, 
who  thinks  that  Saadia  returned  to  Egypt  after  the  struggle  with 
Ben  Meir  was  over;  comp.  also  recently  Eppenstein,  Beitr'dge,  pp. 
103,  116  f.  As  said  above,  there  is  no  sufficient  basis  for  this  view. 
Eppenstein  seems  to  base  his  view  on  the  fact  that  the  Kitdb  Al- 
Tamyiz,  one  of  Saadia's  polemical  works,  was  written  in  926,  which, 
he  says,  probably  following  Poznanski  (JQR.,  X,  244,  bottom),  was 
"at  all  events  done  in  Egypt."  But  Poznanski  wrote  in  1898  before 
the  letters  of  the  Genizah  came  to  light,  and  the  passage  from  a 
work  of  Abraham  b.  Hiyya  which  he  quotes  there  (p.  245)  as  proof, 
only  gives  the  year  (926),  not  the  country  of  the  composition.  If 
our  assumption,  that  Al-Mas'udi  met  Saadia  in  Tiberias  is  correct 
(see  above,  p.  36)  we  should  have  additional  proof  that  in  926,  the 
year  in  which  the  work  mentioned  above  was  written,  Saadia  was 
in  the  East ;  for  it  was  in  that  year  that  Mas'udi  is  known  to  have 
visited  Tiberias ;  comp.  above,  note  34. 

^'''  Regarding  the  chronological  order  of  Saadia's  writings  see 
below,  note  293. 

5 


66  SAADIA  GAON 

'Abu  Kathir,  who  became  his  teacher."^"  In  Tiberias,  Saadia 
must  have  come  in  close  contact  with  the  School  of  Masor- 
ites,"*  especially  with  Ben  Asher/'"  the  last  and  most  dis- 
tinguished member  of  this  school,  of  whose  grammatical 
views  Saadia  wrote  a  refutation."^  In  all  probabiHty  it  was 
there  that  he  made  the  personal  acquaintance  of  Ben  Meir,'^' 
with  whom  he  was  subsequently  engaged  in  a  bitter  literary 
feud.  There  he  may  have  met  also  some  Muhammedan 
writers  as  well  as  learned  Karaites,  whose  writings  he 
refuted  in  special  works."^  All  these  men  must  have  served 
as  a  stimulus  to  Saadia  in  his  literary  pursuits,  and  thus, 
directly  or  indirectly  have  furthered  his  scholarly  career. 

Special  mention  should  be  made  of  an  eminent  scholar 
whose  name  is  well  known  in  the  history  of  Jewish  philos- 
ophy, and  whose  works  and  personality  had  a  decided 
influence  on   Saadia — the  philosopher  and   controversiaHst 

^^^  See  above,  pp.  36  f . 

^Comp.  Bacher,  Anfdnge,  p.  50.  Possibly  Abu  Kathir  himself, 
as  the  identiiication  with  Judah  b.  'Alan  would  indicate,  was  a 
member  of  the  Masoretic  school,  though  to  judge  from  the  nature 
of  the  questions  that  were  disputed  between  him  and  Al-Mas'udi 
(comp.  Goldziher,  REJ.,  XLVII,  41)  he  appears  to  have  been  a 
philosopher ;  see  above,  note  35. 

""Comp.  Graetz,  Geschichte,  V,  4th  edition,  p.  324  (English  version, 
III,  207)  ;  Bacher,  JE.,  X,  582. 

"^  Bacher,  /.  c,  doubts,  however,  that  it  was  done  in  a  separate 
work;  see  below,  Bibliography,  section  VIII,  p.  399. 

^■^  Comp.  Bornstein,  p.  60,  n.  3 ;  see  also  Poznanski,  REJ.,  XLVIII 
(1904),  149,  n.  2. 

'"■'  Comp.  Poznanski,  JQR.,  X  (1898),  238  ff.  The  Arabic  historian 
Hamza  al-'Isfahani  (beginning  of  the  tenth  century)  tells  in  his 
Chronicles  (ed.  Gottwald,  St.  Petersburg-Leipsic,  1844-1848),  the 
fifth  chapter  of  which  is  devoted  to  the  history  of  the  Jews,  and  was 
translated  into  Germ.an  by  Steinschneider  {MOW J.,  1845,  p,  271  ff.), 
that  in  920-921  he  met,  at  Bagdad,  a  celebrated  Jewish  scholar,  named 
Zedekiah,  "  who  communicated  to  him  a  short  S3mopsis  of  the  old 
Jewish  chronology";  see  JQR.,  XIII,  299.  Many  other  Jewish 
scholars  may  have  lived  at  that  time  in  Bagdad  with  whom  Saadia 
probably  came  in  contact. 


SAADIA'S  EMIGRATION  TO  THE  EAST  67 

David  Ibn  Merwan  Al-Mukammis/"'  of  Rakka,  in  Meso- 
potamia/^ Al-Mukammis  is  the  first  known  Jewish  writer 
on  metaphysics  in  the  Orient.  Various  philosophic  theories 
of  his  that  have  recently  become  known  through  lengthy 
extracts  from  his  works,  show  a  striking  resemblance  to 
theories  propounded  by  Saadia.'""  This  may  not  be  absolute 
proof  of  an  interdependence  of  the  two  authors,  as  both  may 
have  drawn  upon  common  Arabic  sources ;  but  in  addition 
to  this  identity  of  doctrines,  which  makes  a  personal  or  hter- 
ary  relationship  very  probable,  there  is  also  the  testimony  of 
Judah  b.  Barzillai,  a  noted  scholar  of  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, and  author  of  an  important  commentary  on  the  Sefer 
Yezirah^^''  Jwdah  incorporated  several  chapters  of  one  of 
Mukammis's  works  into  his  own,  and  in  introducing  him  to 
his  readers  he  says :  "  I  do  not  know,  whether  he  [Mukam- 
mis]  was  one  of  the  Geonim,  but  I  have  heard  that  R. 
Saadia,  of  blessed  memory,  having  been  his  contemporary, 
knew  him  personally  and  was  instructed  by  /izm''(lJ^O  ID^I) . 
Judah  adds  that  he  is  "  not  quite  sure  about  it,"  which,  if  the 
Hebrew  style  is  interpreted  strictly,  seems  to  refer,  not  only 

*^  For  details  on  Mukammis  see  Steinschneider,  JQR.,  XIII, 
450  and  Arabisckc  Literatur,  pp.  27,  ZZ^^  bottom ;  Poznanski,  Zur 
judisch-arahischen  Literatur,  pp.  39  f . ;  Hirschf  eld,  JQR.,  XV,  682, 
6S8;  XVI,  41 1;  comp.  also  above,  note  2)2)^  the  quotation  from  Ibn 
TyTazm.  A  synopsis  of  Al-Mukammis's  philosophy  was  given  by 
Schreiner,  Der  Kalam  in  der  jiidischen  Literatur,  Berlin,  1895,  pp. 
22  ff.;  comp.  also  Gratz,  Geschichte,  V  (4),  322,  note  5;  Harkavy, 
5'Kn{i'''n  niDDH  nniP^  in  the  Hebrew  translation  of  Graetz's  His- 
tory, vol.  Ill,  pp.  498  f. 

^^'^  See  Harkavy,  as  quoted  in  the  preceding  note.  A  place  by  the 
name  of  Rakka  is,  according  to  some,  also  in  Egypt,  so  that  Mu- 
kammis, too,  might  be  a  native  of  that  country,  and  an  emigrant  to 
Palestine  and  Babylonia ;  see,  however,  Steinschneider,  Arabische 
Literatur,  p.  37,  n.  i,  and  §  25 ;  idem,  Hehrdische  Uehersetsungen,  p. 
378,  n.  69 ;  for  other  references  see  above,  note  Z7-  hi  the  short  frag- 
ment of  a  work  of  Mukammis  published  by  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XV, 
682,  Mukammis  is  called    ''TNT^ti'^t?,  i.  e.  of  Shiraz,  in  Persia. 

"'  Schreiner,  Der  Kaldm,  pp.  22  ff. 

"^  Published  by  Halberstam,  Berlin,  1885.  The  passage  referred 
to  in  the  text  is  on  p.  yy;  comp.  Goldziher,  REJ.,  XLII  (1903),  184, 
n.  2,  where  178  is  a  misprint  for  78. 


68  S  A  AD  I A  GAON 

to  the  last  words,  but  to  the  whole  statement.  Because  of 
this  we  may  accept  the  report  as  true,  especially  as  the  con- 
temporaneity of  the  two  authors  has  in  the  meantime  been 
established  from  other  sources."'  Whether  Saadia  met 
Mukammis  while  traveling  through  the  cities  of  Syria  and 
Babylonia,  or  at  a  later  period,  when  he  had  settled  in  Sura, 
cannot  be  decided,  and  it  is  irrelevant.  The  former  view 
seems  more  probable,  and  for  that  reason  the  relation  between 
the  two  has  been  discussed  in  this  place. 

"*  From  a  work  of  the  Karaite  Abu  Jusuf  Ja'kub  al-Kirkisani  (loth 
century),  see  Harkavy's  additions  to  the  Hebrew  edition  of  Graetz's 
History,  HI,  499;  Poznanski,  The  Karaite  Literary  Opponents  of 
Saadiah  Gaon,  pp.  8-1 1. 


Chapter  IV 

SAADIA'S   CONTROVERSY  WITH   BEN   MEIR 
(  468 1  -82  =  92 1  -922 ) 

The  subject  of  Saadia's  controversy  with  Ben  Meir  forms 
an  entirely  new  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  Jews  in  the 
Orient ;  for  it  is  only  half  a  century  since  the  very  name  of 
Ben  Meir  appeared  on  the  scene  for  the  first  time,  while  the 
literature  on  the  controversy  was  brought  to  light  only  with- 
in the  last  two  decades."^"  In  connection  with  the  present 
work  the  material  on  this  topic,  which  came  from  the 
Genizah,  is  of  the  greatest  importance  from  many  points  of 
view.  It  was  through  the  discovery  of  this  material  that 
we  first  learned  of  the  movements  and  activities  of  Saadia 
prior  to  his  appointment  as  Gaon.  For  nearly  all  the  details 
about  his  life  and  work  following  his  departure  from  Egypt, 
discussed  in  the  preceding  chapter,  we  depend  on  these 
finds  as  the  only  source.  Aside  from  the  historical  facts, 
which  we  incidentally  learn  from  these  singular  documents 
on  a  remarkable  political  and  religious  struggle  between  the 
Palestinian  and  Babylonian  authorities  of  the  tenth  century, 
we  are  granted  a  more  complete  picture  of  Saadia's  char- 
acter and  personality  than  was  obtainable  before.     Though 

"^  The  first  notice  of  the  existence  of  a  man  by  the  name  of  Ben 
Meir  was  brought  to  light  by  the  noted  Karaite  scholar  Abraham 
Firkovich  in  an  article  on  his  discovery  of  fragments  of  Saadia's 
'Agron  and  the  Sefer  ha-Galui,  published  in  the  Hebrew  periodical 
V^fOn,  St.  Petersburg,  1868,  nos.  26,  27,  also  separately  under  the 
peculiar  title  nx  ....  Dn^DD  ....  ni^lVn  fllD^  ni^TPH^  XUD 
3"Din  .  .  .  .  ^tJ>  im^lD,  Odessa,  1868;  see  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V, 
12,  136;  Bornstein,  p.  41.  Firkovich  quotes  the  passage  from  the 
Sefer  ha-Gahii  (now  in  Harkavy,  /.  c,  p.  151,  last  line)  in  which  the 
name  Ben  Meir  occurs,  but  nothing  could  be  learned  from  that 
passage  about  his  identity  and  his  relations  to  Saadia,  until,  a 
quarter  of  a  century  later,  the  literature  on  his  controversy  with  the 
latter  was  unearthed.  For  the  details  of  that  literature  see  below, 
pp.  409-419- 

69 


70  SAADIA  GAON 

we  cannot  possibly  accept  as  true  the  immoderate  charges 
made  against  Saadia  by  the  writers  of  some  of  these  docu- 
ments, they  are  nevertheless  of  value,  inasmuch  as  they 
present  him  to  us  in  the  light  in  which  he  was  seen  by  some 
of  his  contemporaries,''*'  thus  enabling  us  to  make  up  our 
account  of  him  after  a  careful  consideration  of  the  facts  on 
both  sides. 

Before  the  two  opposing  parties  are  arrayed  in  their  pro- 
longed contest,  an  explanation  of  the  historical  causes 
that  led  to  the  struggle  is  unavoidable.  Otherwise  I  should 
prefer  to  escape  discussion  of  a  subject  that  ranks  as  one 
of  the  obscurest  and  most  complicated  in  Jewish  literature. 
Besides,  the  origin  and  history  of  the  Jewish  calendar  does 
not  readily  lend  itself  to  a  popular  presentation.  Our  pur- 
pose here  will  be  served  best  by  a  brief  summary  of  prin- 
ciples, avoiding  as  far  as  possible  the  details  of  compu- 
tation. 

It  is  generally  accepted  that  the  Jewish  festivals  were, 
in  Biblical  times,  fixed  by  observation  of  both  the  sun 
and  the  moon.  Gradually,  certain  astronomical  rules  were 
also  brought  into  requisition,  primarily  as  a  test,  corrobor- 
ating or  refuting  the  testimony  of  observation.  Such  rules 
are  mentioned  for  the  first  time  in  the  Book  of  Enoch, 
in  the  Book  of  Jubilees,  in  the  Mishnah,  and  later  in 
the  two  Talmudim.  It  has  been  authoritatively  proved  that 
in  spite  of  a  more  advanced  knowledge  of  astronomy  the 
practice  of  fixing  the  new  moon  and  the  festivals  by  obser- 
vation was  in  force  as  late  as  the  latter  part  of  the  fifth 
century.''*^    The  right  to  announce  the  new  moon  after  re- 

^^  Though  the  aspersions  and  denunciations  of  Saadia  are  con- 
tained only  in  the  letters  of  his  chief  opponent  Ben  Meir,  it  is  a 
matter  of  course  that  the  latter  was  not  the  only  one  who  enter- 
tained such  opinions  of  Saadia,  but  was  the  mouthpiece  of  a  large 
following,  especially  in  Palestine,  where  Saadia  had  lived  for  several 
years. 

"^  See  for  the  whole  matter  Bornstein's  learned  Introduction 
to  his  work,  pp.  15  ff.,  and  the  important  work  of  F.  K.  Ginzel,  Hand- 
buch  der  mathematischen  jind  technischen  Chronologie,  IT,  Leipzig, 
191 1,  pp.  63  ff. 


SAADIA'S  CONTROVERSY  WITH  BEN  MEIR  71 

ceiving  and  testing  the  witnesses  who  had  observed  its  ap- 
pearance was  the  prerogative  of  the  Palestinian  Patriarchs, 
and  the  repeated  attempts  of  the  authorities  in  Babylonia  to 
arrogate  this  right  unto  themselves  were  promptly  frustrated 
by  interdicts  from  Palestine."^  With  the  beginning  of  the 
fourth  century,  however,  Palestine,  owing  to  the  terrible 
persecutions  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  Romans,  grad- 
ually ceased  to  be  the  spiritual  center  of  Jewry.  Babylonia, 
where  better  conditions  prevailed  under  the  Persian  rule, 
took  its  place,  and  the  religious  right  to  fix  the  calendar 
likewise  passed  over  to  the  heads  of  its  flourishing  academies, 
though  not  without  protests  from  Palestine/*^  In  Babylonia 
also,  the  practice  of  observation  was  continued  until  the 
time  of  the  last  Amoraim,  although  a  practical  system 
of  reckoning  had  been  known  to  scholars  for  more  than  a 
century.  It  was  only  after  the  close  of  the  Babylonian 
Talmud,  in  the  sixth  or  perhaps  later,  in  the  seventh  cen- 
tury, that  the  observation  of  the  moon  was  entirely  given 
up,  and  a  complete  and  final  system  of  calendation  intro- 
duced. This  was  adopted  by  all  the  Jews  of  the  Diaspora, 
and  has  been  accepted  as  binding  down  to  the  present  day."* 
The  real  originators  of  this  calendar  as  well  as  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  it  Vv^as  enforced  are  lost  in  the 
general  obscurity  of  the  history  of  the  Oriental  Jews  during 
the  first  two  centuries  after  the  completion  of  the  Talmud. 
It  is  certain,  however,  that  the  whole  system  of  calendation, 
although  promulgated  in  Babylonia,  originated  in  Palestine.^*^ 
There  are  indications  that  the  Palestinian  Jews  felt  sore  at 
heart  that  they  had  to  bow  to  the  Babylonian  authorities, 
whom  they  must  have  considered  as  usurpers  of  their  in- 
herited rights,  and  from  time  to  time  they  must  have  tried  to 
re-establish  their  lost  authority,  but  in  vain.""* 

^^  Bornstein,  pp.  8  ff. 

^*''' Bornstein,  p.  10;  comp.  Poznanski,  JQR.,  X,  158. 
^"Bornstein,  pp.  17-19;  Ginzel,  II,  70  f. 

"°  For  a  full  account  see  Epstein,  Ha~Gorcn,  V,  120  ff. ;  see,  how- 
ever, Ginzel,  II,  78. 
^'*®  Bornstein,  p.  10. 


n  SAADIA  GAON 

With  the  beginning  of  the  tenth  century  the  situation  was 
again  changed.  The  once  flourishing  Babylonian  academies 
of  Sura  and  Pumbedita,  especially  the  former,  owing  to  gen- 
eral conditions  and  to  the  lack  of  strong  leaders,  began  to 
show  a  marked  decline,  so  that  the  Sura  academy  was  on  the 
point  of  closing  its  doors,  and  the  sister-academy  in  Pumbe- 
dita was  greatly  reduced  in  strength  by  a  bitter  struggle  be- 
tween its  leading  scholars  and  a  pugnacious  exilarch."'  At 
this  juncture  a  man  of  marked  ability  arose  in  Palestine,  who, 
recognizing  the  propitious  moment,  sought  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  situation  in  order  to  restore  its  former  preroga- 
tives to  his  country"'  This  man  was  [Aaron?]  "'  Ben  Meir, 
a  Palestinian  by  birth  and  the  head  of  a  school  in  his  native 
land.  He  claimed  to  be  a  descendant  of  the  Patriarchs 
•  of  the  house  of  Hillel,  mentioning  particularly  R.  Gamliel 
and  R.  Judah  Hanasi  as  his  progenitors.""  With  genuine 
scholarly  attainments  and  considerable  facility  in  writing  he 
combined  strong  will  and  determined  character ;  all  of  which 
gained  for  him  great  influence  even  outside  of  Palestine. 

"^The  reports  of  Sherira  Gaon  and  of  Nathan  the  Babylonian 
regarding  the  quarrel  in  Pumbedita  differ  very  essentially  in  many 
points.  Various  attempts  at  reconciling  the  two  sources  have  been 
made.  This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  matter.  See  below, 
chapter  V,  and  in  particular  Ginzberg,  Geonka,  I,  55. 

"^'A.  Epstein  in  Ha-Goren,  V,  125  ff.  (comp.  ZfhB.,  X,  6y),  pre- 
sents the  matter  as  if  Ben  Meir's  motives  in  starting  the  conflict  were 
purely  scientific,  that  he  tried  to  rectify  what  he  considered  erroneous 
in  the  established  calendar.  This  view  can  be  accepted  only  with 
great  reservation.  For  whatever  the  merits  of  Ben  Meir's  calcula- 
tion may  have  been,  there  is  no  doubt  that  his  personal  ambition  and 
perhaps  still  more,  his  desire  to  reassert  the  authority  of  the  Holy 
Land,  played,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  a  very  important  part 
in  his  contention.  More  than  once  in  his  letters  he  emphatically 
denies  to  the  Babylonians  the  right  to  fix  the  calendar,  which,  he 
constantly  reiterates,  is  the  exclusive  prerogative  of  his  country; 
comp.  below,  note  158. 

*'  The  name  Aaron  in  reference  to  Ben  Meir  occurs  in  a  fragment 
of   Saadia's  Sefer  ha-Moadim.     The  context,    however,  is  rather 
unclear;  comp.  Bornstein,  p.  58,  n.  2;  in,  bottom;  Poznanski,  RE/., 
LXVII  (1914),  291,  n.  I,  and  below,  note  175. 
''"Bornstein,  p.  58,  n.  2;  above,  note  18. 


SAADIA'S  CONTROVERSY  WITH  BEN  MEIR  73 

In  order  to  bring  out  Ben  Meir's  point  of  view  it  is  neces- 
sary to  explain  some  of  the  elementary  rules  of  the  Jewish 
calendar : 

The  Jewish  lunar  year  consists  of  twelve  alternating 
months,  of  29  or  30  days,  respectively.  Such  a  year,  count- 
ing" 354  days,  is  called  normal  or  regular.  For  certain 
reasons,  to  be  explained  presently,  the  year  is  sometimes 
made  to  count  only  353  days,  in  which  case  it  is  designated 
as  deficient;  or  a  day  is  added,  making  355,  and  then  it  is 
called  full.  To  make  a  year  full  or  deficient,  the  months  of 
Heshzvdn  and  Kislew  (approximately  November  and  De- 
cember) were  selected  for  the  necessary  addition  or  sub- 
traction. In  a  regular  year  Heshzvdn  always  counts  29  and 
Kislezv  30  days  (  =  59)  ;  in  a  full  year  a  day  is  added  to 
Heshwdn  (=60),  and  in  a  deficient  year  a  day  is  subtracted 
from  Kislew  (  =  58) .  Whether  a  year  is  to  be  declared  regu- 
lar, full,  or  deficient  depends  upon  four  rules,  called  "  Post- 
ponements," (nrm)  or  the  "Four  Gates,'"'"  These 
must  be  observed  in  the  appointment  of  every  Jewish  New 

^  The  Four  Rules,  for  which  see  Ginzel,  II,  91  f .,  are  found 
together  in  a  writing  called  W^IV^  TW^^^,  the  Four  Gates,  because 
it  treats  of  the  four  days  of  the  week  (Monday,  Tuesday,  Thursday, 
and  Saturday),  on  which  alone  Rosh  ha-Shanah  is  allowed  to  fall, 
the  days  forming  thus,  as  it  were,  the  gates  through  which  we  enter 
into  the  respective  new  year.  The  original  work  of  which  the  Four 
Gates  formed  a  part,  is  lost.  Nor  can  it  be  ascertained  when  and 
where  or  by  whom  it  was  composed.  From  the  Ben  Meir  con- 
troversy we  can  see  that  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  tenth 
century  its  authority  was  generally  recognized.  A  certain  Jose 
Al-Nahrawani,  probably  a  contemporary  of  Saadia,  versified  that 
part  of  the  work  which  dealt  with  the  Four  Rules,  and  his  versifica- 
tion also  bears  the  name  D''^ytJ^  nymt<.  Steinschneider  discovered 
the  work  of  Jose  in  a  MS.  at  the  Bodleian  library,  written  in  1203, 
and  published  it  in  the  periodical  Kerem  Chemed,  IX  (1856),  41. 
A.  Epstein  re-edited  the  same  with  copious  notes  in  the  RE/.,  XLII 
(1901),  204-210.  At  the  same  time  a  commentary  on  Genesis  and 
Exodus  by  Menahem  b.  Solomon  (12th  century)  under  the  title 
IID  ^DtJ^  t^no  was  published  by  S.  Buber  (Berlin,  1901),  wherein 
a  different  recension,  of  Palestinian  origin,  is  found  in  connection 
with  the  verse  Exod.,   12,  2   (vol.  II,  90-92).     This  recension  was 


74  SAADIA  GAON 

Year's  day  (first  of  Tishri,  approximately  September).  We 
shall  here  mention  only  the  two  rules  necessary  for  the 
understanding  of  Ben  Meir's  attempted  reform. 

The  first  of  these  rules  is  that  New  Year's  day  should 
never  be  appointed  on  either  a  Sunday,  or  Wednesday,  or 
Friday.  Sunday  is  considered  unfit,  because  with  Rosh  ha- 
Shanah  falling  thereon,  the  seventh  day  of  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles  {Hoshana  Rabbah) ,  on  which  the  ceremony  of 
"  beating  the  willow-twigs  "  is  an  important  part  of  the  ser- 
vice, would  fall  on  the  Sabbath,  and  the  observance  of  the 
ceremony  could  not  be  permitted.  Wednesday  and  Friday 
are  likewise  inadmissible,  because  the  Day  of  Atonement 
would  then,  to  the  great  inconvenience  of  the  people,  fall  on 
either  Friday  or  Sunday  immediately  before  or  after  the 
Sabbath.  If,  therefore,  the  new  moon  of  the  month  of  Tishri 
was  observed  in  the  night  preceding  one  of  these  three  days 
(Sunday,  Wednesday,  Friday),  New- Year  was  proclaimed 
on  the  day  following;  a  custom  still  in  force  now  that  cal- 
culation has  been  substituted  for  observation,  the  calendar 
having  been  fixed  in  agreement  with  this  rule  of  Talmudic 

•       •        1S2 

origm. 

republished  and  fully  discussed  by  Bornstein,  pp.  26,  103-107 ;  comp. 
also  Epstein,  RE  J.,  XLIV,  230-236,  and  Ha-Goren,  V,  131.  The 
same  recension  in  a  more  concise  form  was  published  by  Marx 
in  his  Untersuchimgen  zum  Siddtir  des  Gaon  R.  Amram,  Berlin, 
1908,  pp.  18  f.,  from  a  MS.  belonging  to  Sulzberger  (originally 
Halberstam),  In  a  fragment  from  the  Genizah  published  by 
Schechter,  JQR.,  XIV,  498  (Saadyaim,  p.  128),  which  contains  an 
ancient  list  of  books,  Saadia  is  credited  with  a  book  by  the  name  of 
D''iyK^  nynx.  This  is  not  identical  with  the  fragment  published 
by  Schechter  (ib.,  pp.  128-130),  which,  though  likewise  discussing 
the  Four  Gates,  is  of  a  polemical  character  and  forms  part  of  the 
Sefer  Zikkaron;  see  below,  p.  415,  no.  9;  comp.  below,  pp.  168  f.,  nos. 
1-2,  and  Bibliography,  IV,  p.  352,  no.  2.  Saadia  mentions '  the 
D''iy^  nvmt<  also  in  his  Arabic  Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yeqirah 
(ed.  Lambert,  p.  80)  ;  comp.  Bornstein,  p.  25,  n.  2. 

A  short  but  clear  exposition  of  the  Four  Rules  was  given  also  in 
Hebrew,  by  L.  Steinitz,  Bikkure  ha-Ittim,  1822,  pp.  236-240,  and 
recently  by  Ch.  Tschernowitz,  Tl^O^nn  *1"1VP,  Lausanne,  1919,  pp.  283- 
288. 

^'^^  Rosh  ha-Shanah,  20a;  comp.  Bornstein,  pp.  119-21;  Ginzel,  11,67. 


SAADIA'S  CONTROVERSY  WITH  BEN  MEIR  75 

The  second  rule  is  that  in  order  to  proclaim  a  New-Year's 
Day  it  is  necessary,  that  the  new  moon  be  seen  before  noon 
of  this  day.  If  the  new  moon  is  not  observed  until  exact 
noon,  or  later,  no  matter  on  what  day  of  the  week,  the  New 
Year  has  to  be  postponed  to  the  following  day.  If  that 
happens  to  be  one  of  the  three  days  declared  inadmissible 
for  Rosh  ha-Shanah,  the  festival  is  of  course  postponed  for 
two  days.  The  supposed  reason  for  this  rule  is  that  it  takes 
fully  six  hours  from  the  moment  the  new  moon  is  caught 
sight  of  from  some  place  of  vantage  until  it  becomes  again 
visible.  Now  if  the  conjunction  (Mdlad),  that  is,  the  meet- 
ing of  the  moon  and  the  sun  in  the  same  degree  of  the  zodiac, 
takes  place  at  12  (noon)  sharp,  or  still  later,  there  is  no  chance 
for  the  moon  to  become  visible  until  sunset  (six  o'clock), 
when  the  Jewish  astronomical  day  is  considered  over.  In 
strictness,  this  rule  (which  is  also  Talmudic),""^  has  per- 
tinence only  to  a  system  depending  on  observation;  but,  as 
stated  before,  the  rules  of  calendric  calculation  were  made 
to  agree  with  the  original  rules  of  practice,  though  the  rea- 
sons given  may  have  lost  their  value. 

It  will  be  readily  understood  from  the  above  that  whenever 
New  Year  is  postponed,  the  year  is  made  shorter,  being 
reduced  to  353  days  and  thus  turned  into  a  deficient  year. 
The  month  of  Tishri,  however,  is  not  made  to  suffer  by  this 
reduction.  As  stated  before,  the  two  days  are  taken  off 
from  the  next  following  months,  Heshimn  and  Kislew, 
which  are  made  to  count  only  twenty-nine  days  each.  To 
use  the  technical  term,  they  are  both  made  deficient.  It  may 
be  added  to  complete  our  survey  that  to  bring  the  solar  year 
and  the  lunar  year  into  coincidence  in  a  certain  cycle  (19 
years),  an  intercalary  month  is  inserted  into  the  Jewish  year 
at  necessary  periods,  making  a  leap  year  of  383  to  385  days. 

^'^ Rosh  ha-Shanah,  20b:    ^lOD    HN^Jti^    ^H^n    DlVn    D11P    I^IJ 

ny^ptj^^  11DD  nt^nj  ^'?^  yn^n  m^^^n  D-np  i^ij  «^  hdhh  r\V'^\>^'> 

n?onn.  The  meaning  of  this  passage,  however,  is  not  clear,  which 
gave  rise  to  differing  interpretations;  see  Epstein,  Ha-Goren,  V, 
120  f.;  below,  note  164. 


^(i  SAADIA  GAON 

When  observation  was  replaced  by  calculation,  the  calen- 
dar did  not,  indeed,  have  to  be  fixed  by  the  authorities  from 
year  to  year.  Anybody  familiar  with  the  rules  on  which  it 
was  based  could  determine  many  years  ahead  on  what  day 
of  the  week  New  Year  or  any  other  festival  would  fall  in  a 
given  year.  In  fact  it  was  most  essential  to  know,  in  order 
to  arrange  the  calendar  for  any  year,  on  what  day  Rosh 
ha-Shanah  would  fall  two  years  later. 

In  the  year  4681  of  the  Jewish  era  (=921  common  era) 
it  was  anticipated  that  in  the  year  4684  (September,  923) 
the  rule  of  two  days'  postponement,  described  above,  would 
come  into  operation.  Calculation  showed  that  if  observation 
had  been  still  in  practice,  the  new  moon  of  Tishri  could  not 
be  observed  till  about  thirteen  or  fourteen  minutes  after 
meridian  on  the  Sabbath.  Consequently  the  accepted  rules 
required,  observation  or  no  observation,  that  New  Year  be 
postponed  to  Monday.  Now,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
there  is  a  difference  of  four,  occasionally  of  five,  or  even  of 
six  days  (leaving  fractions  out  of  consideration)  between 
two  successive  years.  That  is  to  say,  the  festivals  of  a  given 
year  fall  from  four  to  six  days  later  in  the  week  than  those  of 
the  preceding  year.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  fifty  weeks 
of  the  regular  common  year  and  fifty-four  weeks  of  the 
regular  leap  year  contain,  the  first  only  350,  and  the  second 
378  days,  while  a  complete  year  of  twelve  regular  months 
counting  alternately  twenty-nine  and  thirty  days,  contains  354 
days,  and  thirteen  such  months  make  a  year  of  384  days. 
If,  therefore,  in  923,  the  year  under  consideration.  New  Year 
was  to  fall  on  Monday,  Rosh  ha-Shmmh  of  the  previous  year 
(922)  must  take  place  four  days  earlier,  i.  e.,  on  Thursday. 
Again,  in  922  New  Year  had  to  be  approximately  six  days 
later  than  in  921,  because  the  year  921  happened  to  be  a  leap 
year.  This  would  bring  New  Year  of  921  on  Friday ;  but  as 
Friday  had  been  declared  unfit,  Thursday  had  to  be  substi- 
tuted. To  sum  up:  the  accepted  order  of  the  calendar  in 
those  three  years  was  as  follows :  In  4682  (921/22)  New 
Year  on  Thursday,  the  year  full  (385  days),*  that  is,  Hesh- 

*  Because  it  was  leap  year,  355  -]-  30. 


SAADIA'S  CONTROVERSY  WITH  BEN  MEIR  77 

wan  and  Kislew  containing  each  thirty  days,  and  Passover 
(which  is  also  to  be  mentioned  for  reasons  that  will  become 
obvious  later),  falling  on  a  Tuesday.*  In  4683  (922/23) 
New  Year  on  Thursday,  the  year  regular  (354  days),  Hesh- 
wdn  and  Kislezv  counting  together  59  days  (29  +  30),  and 
Passover  on  Sabbath.*  *  In  4684  (923/24)  New  Year  Mon- 
day (Postponement),  the  year  deficient  (353  days),  Heshzvdn 
and  Kislew  counting  together  fifty-eight  days  (29+29),  and 
Passover  on  Tuesday. § 

We  may  now  return  to  Ben  Meir,  but  for  a  full  understand- 
ing of  his  position  it  is  necessary  to  mention  one  more 
point,  namely  that  in  the  system  of  the  Jewish  calendar  the 
hour  is  divided  not  into  3600  seconds  but  into  1080  haldkim 
(parts). 

As  a  learned  man,  the  head  of  an  academy,  Ben  Meir  was 
naturally  well  informed  on  the  question  of  the  Jewish  calen- 
dar. The  four  principal  rules  of  calendation  had  been  known 
for  centuries,""'*  and  in  the  main  he  recognized  them  as 
binding.  All  that  he  apparently  asked,  when  he  began  the 
controversy,  was  a  modification  of  the  rule  which  required 
that  to  proclaim  any  day  as  Rosh  Hodesh  the  new  moon 
must  be  discovered  (or,  in  times  of  reckoning,  be  due 
to  appear)  before  noon.*'''  Following  either  another  com- 
putation or  a  definite  Palestinian  tradition,*""  he  added  642 
"  parts  "  (about  thirty-five  minutes)  to  the  time  limit,  so  that 
if,  for  instance,  the  new  moon  of  Tishri  was  due  to  appear  on 
the  Sabbath  at  noon  or  within  the  642  haldkim  after  noon, 

*  In  Hebrew  this  order  is  marked  by  the  letters  ;i"t^n;  PI,  the  fifth 
letter  of  the  alphabet,  denoting  Thursday,  the  fifth  day  of  the  week; 
B^  stands  for  HD^ti^.  full,  and  :i,  the  third  letter,  for  Tuesday 
(Passover). 

**  In  Hebrew  T^DH,  H  =  Thursday,  3  is  an  abbreviation  of  niTDD, 
which  means  regular,  and  T,  the  seventh  letter,  =  Sabbath. 

§  Hebrew  letters  :i''nn,  n  =  Monday,  H  stands  for  mpn,  meaning 
deficient,  and  i  for  Tuesday. 

"*  See  Bornstein,  p.  25,  n.  2;  Epstein,  Ha-Goren,  V,  132,  and  above, 
note  151. 

"°  See  Bornstein,  p.  64,  n.  4. 

"*  See  below,  p.  80. 


78  SAADIA  GAON 

no  postponement  should  take  place.  The  Sabbath  would  thus 
be  declared  Rosh  ha-Shanali,  while  according  to  the  accepted 
calendar  the  festival  had  to  be  postponed  until  Monday 
(Sabbath  being  ineligible  on  account  of  the  belated  appear- 
ance of  the  new  moon,  and  Sunday  on  account  of  rule  i). 

This  being  precisely  what  was  due  to  happen  in  Tishri 
of  the  year  4684  (September  923),  Ben  Meir,  believing  the 
time  favorable  for  the  long-sought  overthrow  of  the  Baby- 
lonian authority,  came  out  in  the  summer"'  of  4681  (921) 
with  the  declaration  that  Heshwan  and  Kislew  of  the  ensuing 
year  (4682  =  Noven:'1)er  and  December  921)  should  both  be 
made  deficient.  Now  the  year  4682  could  be  declared  defi- 
cient only  when  tlie  year  4684  was  to  be  declared  full ;  that 
is,  if  Rosh  ha-Shanah  of  the  last  named  year  was  not  to  be 
postponed  on  account  of  a  belated  new  moon,  but  was  to 
take  place  on  the  Sabbath  of  the  new  moon's  appearance. 
In  fact  it  was  the  anticipated  postponement  of  the  New 
Year  of  4684  which  Ben  Meir  attacked.  He  contended 
that  inasmuch  as  in  that  year  the  new  moon  was  due  only  237 
haldkhn  (about  fourteen  minutes)  after  midday  and  thus 
much  in  advance  of  the  allowed  642  parts,  it  was  not  to  be 
considered  as  late,  and  hence  no  postponement  could  be 
admissible."^' 

Such,  and  apparently  so  technical  if  not  trivial,  was  the 
actual  issue  between  Ben  Meir  and  Babylon. 

The  question  forces  itself  upon  us :  What  was  Ben  Meir's 
reason  for  the  addition  of  642  parts  to  the  given  time  limit  ? 
It  is  hardly  credible  that  a  learned  and  pious  man,  as  Ben 
Meir  undoubtedly  was,  should  have  undertaken  to  change 
essentially  one  of  the  most  sacred  religious  institutions  of 
the  Jewish  people,  one  upon  w^hich  depended  the  celebration 
of  the   festivals  in  their  proper  season,  unless  there  were 

"^  Epstein,  Ha-Goren,  V,  138,  end  of  note  i. 

♦  Ben  Meir's  order  for  the  three  years  was  accordingly :  682  K''nn, 
i.  e.,  New  Year  Thursday  (Tl),  deficient  (H),  Passover  Sunday  (K)  ; 
683  n"D:i,  New  Year  Tuesday  (:i),  regular  O) .  Passover  Thursday 
(H)  ;  684  ^"m,  New  Year  Saturday  (T),  full  (tT),  Passover  Tues- 
day (3). 


SAADIA'S  CONTROVERSY  WITH  BEN  MEIR  79 

strong  reasons  to  justify  his  action/'"  Moreover,  it  would 
have  been  the  most  injudicious  step  for  a  leader  to  take,  as 
he  could  foresee  that  no  conscientious  Jew  would  follow 
him,  unless  the  religious  expediency  of  his  procedure  was 
proved.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  many  Jewish  communities  in 
Palestine  and  outside '''  accepted  Ben  Meir's  view,  and  soon 
after  were  ready  to  celebrate,  or  actually  did  celebrate,  the 
Passover  of  the  year  4682  on  Sunday  instead  of  Tuesday, 

Various  views  have  been  advanced  in  explanation  of  the 
matter;  among  them  that  the  accepted  calendar  being  based 
on  the  time  in  the  city  of  Babylon,  where  noon  is  approxi- 
mately 56  minutes  earlier  than  in  Jerusalem,  Ben  Meir, 
claiming  Jerusalem  as  the  right  basis,  added  642  parts 
(35  minutes)  partly  to  offset  the  difference.""  Against 
this  it  has  been  properly  pointed  out  ^^'^  that  the  fixing  of  the 
calendar  was  originally  the  prerogative  of  Palestine,  and 
it  is  therefore  inconceivable  that  it  should  have  been  based 
on  Babylonian  time.'*^  Nor  is  there  any  proof  that  later 
Babylonian  authorities  assumed  to  transfer  the  basis  from 
Jerusalem  to  Babylon.  Besides,  if  this  was  the  reason  for  the 
addition,  Ben  Meir  would  certainly  not  have  failed  to  men- 
tion it.  Finally,  the  addition  of  precisely  642  parts  (35 
minutes  instead  of  56)  would  after  all  be  an  arbitrary  and 
futile  act. 

^^^  Ben  Meir  guards  himself  against  the  reproach  that  his  desire 
to  re-establish  the  authority  of  the  Holy  Land  was  the  only  reason 
for  his  reforms,  by  pointing  out  to  his  opponents  the  correctness  of 
liis  calculation;  comp.  Bornstein,  p.  51,  n.  6,  and  above,  note  148. 

^"^  As  may  be  seen  from  a  letter  of  Saadia  to  three  Rabbis  in  Egypt, 
published  by  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XVI,  290-297,  the  Egyptian  com- 
munities too,  or  at  least  some  of  them,  during  the  time  of  the  quarrel 
celebrated  the  festivals  according  to  the  computation  of  Ben  Meir; 
comp.  also  Bornstein,  p.  12. 

^^^  Bornstein,  pp.  20,  28,  34  ff. 

"^  Epstein,  Ha-Goren,  V,  1 19  ff. 

"^This  view  is  maintained  by  D.  Sidersky  in  his  recent  work, 
Etude  sur  Vorigine  astronomique  de  la  chronologie  juive,  Paris, 
1911 ;  comp.  his  article  in  the  periodical  i:in  H^^D  nSIVn,  III  (Buda- 
pest, 1913),  ZZ,  i7,  top. 


8o  SAADIA  GAON 

Another,  more  acceptable  explanation  is  that  Ben  Meir's 
real  purpose  was  to  reduce  the  number  of  postponements 
provided  for  in  the  accepted  calendar/"  These  postpone- 
ments were,  in  his  opinion,  frequently  the  cause  of  cele- 
brating the  festivals  at  a  time  other  than  that  prescribed  in 
the  Torah.  Most  of  them  resulted  from  the  rule  concerning 
the  belated  new  moon,  and  when  this  operated  in  connection 
with  another  rule,  it  might  readily  necessitate  a  postpone- 
ment for  two  days.  Finding  that  a  slight  extension  of  the 
time  set  for  the  appearance  of  the  moon  around  mid-day 
would  greatly  reduce  the  number  of  such  postponements,  he 
considered  it  a  religious  duty  to  issue  a  proclamation  to  this 
effect.  The  claim  that  the  rule  opposed  by  him  was  based 
on  the  authority  of  the  Talmud  did  not  appeal  to  Ben  Meir, 
as  the  passage  in  question  is  rather  obscure  and  allows  of 
differing  interpretations.^^* 

Plausible  as  this  explanation  seems  to  be,  it  is  still  difficult 
to  see  why  he  should  have  selected  exactly  the  number  of 
642  for  his  addition,  and  the  suggestion  has  therefore  been 
made  that  in  this  respect  Ben  Meir  relied  on  a  definite 
Palestinian  tradition.^^  Various  passages  in  the  controver- 
sial letters  dealing  with  the  subject  seem  to  support  this 
view.  It  is  quite  possible  that  others  before  Ben  Meir  had 
attempted  to  rectify  the  calendar  by  the  same  addition  of 
642  parts,  but  that  the  literary  records,  if  there  were  such, 
have  not  been  preserved. 

At  this  point  the  subject  of  the  calendar  may  be  dismissed, 
and  we  may  revert  to  the  discussion  of  the  course  of  events 
connected  therewith,  which  led  to  the  defeat  of  Ben  Meir 
and  ultimately  to  the  rise  of  Saadia  to  the  Gaonate. 

Ben  Meir's  intention  to  make  Heshwan  and  Kislew  of  the 
year  4682  deficient  and  to  have  the  Passover  of  the  same 
year  celebrated  two  days  earlier  than  that  fixed  by  the  Baby- 
lonian  authorities    (Sunday   instead   of   Tuesday)    became 

'•"  Epstein,  Ha-Goren,  V,  125  ff. 

^"  See  above,  note   153.     A  new  interpretation  of  the  passage  is 
offered  by  Sidersky,  "I^H  nXD  HDIVn,  III,  41;  comp.  Ginzel,  II,  514. 
^"  See  above,  p.  77 ;  Epstein,  Ha-Goren,  V,  133. 


SAADIA'S  CONTROVERSY  WITH  BEN  MEIR  8i 

known  in  the  summer  of  the  year  4681  (921).  In  what 
way  he  had  manifested  this  intention,  cannot  be  ascertained 
from  the  available  material.  At  that  time  it  seems  he  had 
not  yet  issued  an  official  proclamation."®  The  rumor  reached 
Saadia  in  Aleppo.  He  at  once  addressed  several  letters  to 
Ben  Meir,  demonstrating  to  him  the  correctness  of  the  es- 
tablished calendar  and  warning  him  against  the  change 
advocated.  This  is  reported  by  Saadia  himself  in  the 
two  letters  which  he  addressed  during  the  subsequent  winter 
to  his  pupils  in  Egypt."'  He  further  informs  us,  in  the 
same  letters,  that  in  Bagdad,  whither  he  had  gone  from 
Aleppo,  he  learned  that  his  repeated  warnings  had  had 
no  effect  on  Ben  Meir,  who  had  meantime  issued  his 
official  proclamation,  much  to  the  perturbation  of  the 
Babylonian  Geonim.  The  date  of  Ben  Meir's  proclama- 
tion"' is  not  given  by  Saadia.  In  all  probability  it  was 
issued  on  Hoshana  Rabbah  (the  seventh  day  of  the  feast 
of  Tabernacles)  in  the  year  4682  (autumn,  921),  on  which 
day,  as  is  known  from  other  sources,  it  was  customary 
among  the  Palestinian  Jews  of  that  period  to  assemble 
annually  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  (east  of  Jerusalem)  for 
prayer  and  solemn  processions  around  the  mount  (Hakka- 
fot).     The   occasion  was  used   for   the   discussion  of   the 

"®  Epstein,  ibidem,  p.  138,  end  of  n.  i. 

"^  Bornstein,  pp.  68,  70. 

^"^  The  sources  do  not  explicitly  mention  Ben  Meir's  proclamation. 
In  his  first  letter  Ben  Meir  speaks  of  the  proclamation  of  his  son 
(Bornstein,  p.  51,  line  10:  IJIIOH  T''13n),  which,  as  we  know  from 
Saadia's  Sefer  ha-Mo'adim  (Bornstein,  p.  60),  took  place  about  three 
months  later,  in  Tebet  (comp.  Epstein,  H'a-Goren,  V,  138,  n.  i,  as 
against  Bornstein).  In  his  second  letter,  however,  he  speaks  of  a 
"proclamation  of  his  pupils  on  the  Mount  of  Olives"  (nTIDH 
D^nnn  nnn  irT'O^ri;  Bornstein,  p.  91,  bottom;  92,  top),  which 
seems  to  refer  to  a  previous  proclamation  on  Hoshana  Rabbah;  comp. 
the  text  recently  published  by  A.  Guillaume,  JQR.,  N.  S,,  vol.  V.  (1914- 
1915),  P-  555,  1-  15-  In  the  second  letter  of  Saadia  (Bornstein,  p.  70) 
we  also  read  twice  Dfl^H  with  reference  to  Ben  Meir.  It  is 
possible,  however,  that  the  writers  had  in  mind  the  proclamation  of 
Ben  Meir's  son;  comp.  below,  Appendix,  no.  9,  pp.  415  ff. 
6 


82  SAADIA  GAON 

various  religious  and  communal  needs  of  the  people,  and 
decisions  as  to  future  actions  were  adopted. 

As  soon  as  the  news  of  this  proclamation  reached  Babylon 
the  Exilarch  David  ben  Zakkai,  in  conjunction  with  the 
Geonim  of  both  academies  and  probably  also  Saadia/""  ad- 
dressed an  official  letter  to  Ben  Meir  setting-  forth  in  urgent 
words  the  validity  of  the  established  calendar  and  warning 
him  against  the  contemplated  change ""  At  the  same  time 
the  Geonim  sent  out  circular  letters  to  the  various  Jewish 
communities,  advising  them  to  abide  by  the  old  order,  and 
not  to  heed  the  innovations  proposed. 

It  was  about  this  period  that  Saadia  wrote  to  his  Egyptian 
pupils.  The  first  half  of  his  letter  was  given  above  (pp. 
55  f.)  ;  the  second  reads  as  follows: 

"  Know  that  when  I  was  yet  in  Aleppo,  some  pupils  came 
from  Ba'al  Gad  '"and  brought  the  news  that  Ben  Meir  intends 
to  proclaim  Heshwan  and  Kislew  deficient.  I  did  not  believe 
it,  but  as  a  precaution  I  wrote  to  him  in  the  summer  [not  to 
do  so].  The  Exilarch,  the  heads  of  the  academies,  all  the 
'Allufim"'  teachers  and  scholars,"'  likewise  agreed  to  pro- 
claim Heshzvan  and  Kislew  full,  and  that  Passover  be  cele- 
brated on  Thursday.     In  conjunction  with  their  letters  I 

"'This  results  from  a  passage  in  Ben  Meir's  letter  (Bornstein, 
p.  50,  1.  8:  ^Vfc^^n^N  ^\2V  U  I^VO  DH^^N  innnQHI).  It  is  possi- 
ble, however,  that  Ben  Meir  refers  here  to  letters  he  received  directly 
from  Saadia,  who,  as  stated,  wrote  to  him  from  Aleppo. 

""  For  the  chronology  of  the  various  letters  see  below,  pp.  410  ff. 

"'A  town  at  the  foot  of  the  Lebanon  Mountains  (Joshua,  11,  17; 
see  Dillmann,  ad  locum).  It  is  mentioned  also  by  Judah  Al-Harizi, 
Tahkemoni,  makama  30,  beginning,  and  in  the  Itinerary  of  Benjamin 
of  Tudela,  ed.  London,  1840,  p.  27;  comp.  also  JQR.,  XVI  (1904), 
7Z2,  n.  3. 

^"  For  the  meaning  of  this  title  see  the  references  above,  note  122. 

"'The  phrase  "i^O^D  UV  pHD  is  taken  from  I  Chronicles,  25,  8. 
The  word  I^D^D  in  the  usage  of  Arabic-speaking  Jews  has  not 
always  the  common  meaning  of  pupil,  but  more  often  designates  a 
recognized  scholar;  comp.  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  Z2,  n.  4;  Davidson, 
Sephcr  Shaashuim,  New  York,  1914,  p.  ex. 


SAADIA'S  CONTROVERSY  WITH  BEN  MEIR  83 

too  wrote  to  most  of  the  great  cities,"*  in  order  to  fulfill  my 
duty.  Persist  ye  also  in  this  matter  and  close  up  this  breach, 
and  do  not  rebel  against  the  command  of  God.  None  of  the 
people  dare  to  profane  the  festivals  of  God  wilfully,  to  eat 
leavened  bread  on  Passover,  and  eat,  drink,  and  work  on 
the  Day  of  Atonement.  May  it  be  the  will  [of  the  Lord] 
that  there  be  no  stumbling-block  and  no  pitfall  in  your  place 
or  in  any  other  place  in  Israel.  Pray,  answer  this  letter  and 
tell  me  all  your  affairs  and  your  well-being.  May  your  peace 
grow  and  increase  forever !  " 

Here  we  have  Saadia's  own  testimony  as  to  the  part  he 
took  in  the  struggle,  and  the  rank  to  which  he  had  attained 
among  the  Babylonian  authorities  at  this  period.  Not  only 
did  they  invite  his  co-operation  in  signing  their  official  letters 
in  order  to  confer  special  weight  upon  their  ordinances, 
but  Saadia  issued  such  letters  on  his  own  account  to  the 
largest  congregations  in  and  outside  of  Babylon — a  proof  of 
the  great  fame  and  popularity  he  must  have  enjoyed  in  Jewry 
in  general. 

Meanwhile  Ben  Meir,  far  from  heeding  the  interdicts  of 
Babylonia,  repeated  his  attack  by  sending  his  son"'  to 
Jerusalem,  to  proclaim  there,  for  the  second  time,  the  pro- 
posed changes  of  the  calendar.  To  the  charges  of  the 
Geonim  and  of  Saadia  he  replied  in  a  disrespectful  and 
aggressive  tone,  denying  their  authority  in  matters  of  the 
calendar,  which,  he  claimed,  should  be  left,  as  in  former 
times,  in  the  hands  of  Palestinian  scholars.  In  a  lengthy 
letter  to  his  adherents  in  Babylonia,  in  which  he  sets  forth 

"*  Schechter,  Saadyana,  p.  25  ;  Bornstein,  p.  69  :   DV  TlinD  "'DJX  D:i 

"'  Nothing  definite  is  known  about  Ben  Meir's  sons  to  whom  Ben 
Meir  refers  as  his  "darlings"  Cnion),  while  Saadia  calls  them 
D'l^jy!  See  below,  note  188;  Bornstein,  p.  67,  n.  2.  According  to 
Poznanski,  REJ.,  LXVI,  67,  a  son  of  Ben  Meir  by  the  name  of  Abra- 
ham was  the  founder  of  the  Palestinian  Gaonate  in  the  year  945. 
He  occupied  the  position  several  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Aaron,  who  was  named  after  his  grandfather;  see  above,  note  149. 


84  SAADIA  GAON 

with  much  detail  the  reasons  for  his  reforms,  he  pours  out 
his  whole  wTath  on  Saadia  in  particular,  denouncing  him  and 
''  his  arrogant  followers  "  in  scathing  terms.  This  is  also 
significant  of  the  role  Saadia  evidently  played  in  the  affair. 
In  the  meantime  the  feast  of  Passover  was  approaching. 
The  congregations  were  bewildered  by  commands  and  coun- 
termands."^  Some  prepared  to  celebrate  the  festival  on  the 
date  set  by  Ben  Meir,  others  stood  up  for  the  accepted  cal- 
endar. A  serious  rupture  was  imminent  in  the  ranks  of 
Jewry,  not  dissimilar  to  that  brought  about  previously  by  the 
Karaites.  Saadia  again  addressed  a  letter  to  his  pupils  in 
Egypt,^"  and  probably  also  to  various  communities  else- 
where, imploring  them  to  remain  steadfast  and  to  abide 
by  the  regulations  of  the  Geonim.  To  his  credit  it  must  be 
remarked  that  in  this  letter  there  is  not  a  single  harsh  word 
against  Ben  Meir,  the  originator  of  all  the  trouble. 

The  repeated  notes  of  warning  did  not  bring  about  the 
desired  result.  Most  of  the  Palestinian  and  some  of  the 
Babylonian  communities  actually  celebrated  that  Passover, 
and  consequently  the  other  festivals,  two  days  earlier  than 
the  official  date."*  The  schism  must  have  assumed  alarming 
proportions.  Even  a  non-Jewish  historian  of  the  following 
century  considered  it  important  enough  to  include  it  in  his 
account  of  historical  events."^     Twice  more,  so  far  as  our 

'■'  So  Ben  Meir  apiid  Bornstein,  p.  92  :    Diyi^Oti^n   11^   ""D  DmnTH^ 

iv  ^Do  D3^^«  nit^n  nnrxn")  '?i<^^^  irnx  ^^n. 

^"  The  letter  was  published  first  by  Neubauer,  JQR.,  IX  (1897),  37; 
Harkavy  Ha-Go-ren,  II  (1900),  98;  Epstein  (with  French  translation 
and  notes),  RE  J.,  XLII  (1901),  2Co;  Bornstein,  p.  69;  comp.  below, 
p.  413,  no.  5. 

""  Comp.  Bornstein,  pp.  12,  90,  n.  i ;  Epstein,  REJ.,  XLII,  179,  n.  i, 
on  the  testimony  of  the  Karaite  Sahl  b.  Mazliah  apud  Pinsker, 
Likkiite,  II,  36. 

"'Elijah  of  Nisibis  (nth  century)  in  Baethgen's  Fragmente 
syrischer  und  arahischer  Historiker,  Leipzig,  1884,  pp.  84,  141.  Cyrus 
Adler  in  an  article  "Jewish  History  in  Arabian  Historians,"  JQR., 
II  (1890),  106,  first  called  attention  to  the  passage  in  the  work  of 
Elijah  relating  to  the  differences  between  the  Babylonian  and  Pales- 
tinian Jews  in  the  appointment  of  the  festivals  in  the  year  922.    At 


SAADIA'S  CONTROVERSY  WITH  BEN  MEIR  85 

records  give  us  information,  the  Babylonian  representatives 
of  Judaism  expostulated  with  Ben  Meir."""  This  happened  in 
the  ensuing  summer.  Again  letters  of  warning  and  exhor- 
tation were  sent  to  the  "  divided  house  of  Israel,"  but  to  no 
effect.  "  The  two  parties  indulged  in  mutual  recrimina- 
tions and  excommunications,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to 
charge  one  another  with  fraud  and  deception."  ^"  How 
long  the  quarrel  lasted,  and  by  what  means  it  was  brought 
to  an  end,  cannot  be  learned  from  the  scanty  material  that 
was  discovered  in  the  Genizah.  From  the  report  of  the 
Syrian  historian  and  from  Karaitic  sources  we  know  only 
that  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  4683  the  quarrel  was  still  in 
progress.  Rosh  ha-Shanah  of  that  year  was  observed  by 
the  two  opposing  parties  on  different  days  in  accordance  with 
their  divergent  views. 

We  know,  however,  that  Ben  Meir  and  his  supporters 
ultimately  met  with  crushing  defeat,  and  as  may  be  plainly 
seen  from  Ben  Meir's  epistles,  he  attributed  his  downfall 
particularly  to  the  activity  of  Saadia.^^''  Ben  Meir's  judg- 
ment was  doubtless  right  on  this  point.  Neither  the  Geonim 
who  presided  over  the  two  academies,  nor  any  of  the  scholars 
among  their  followers  had  either  the  intellectual  capacity 

that  time,  however  (189c),  nothing  was  known  about  the  controversy 
of  Saadia  and  Ben  Meir  and  the  real  importance  of  the  passage 
could  not  even  be  guessed  at.  Several  years  later,  when  the  various 
Genizah  fragments  were  brought  to  light  by  Schechter  and  others, 
Poznanski,  referring  to  Adler's  article,  pointed  out  the  full  meaning 
of  Elijah's  report  in  its  bearing  on  the  subject  under  consideration; 
see  his  article  in  JQR.,  X  (1898),  152-161,  and  comp.  Bornstein,  pp.  7  f. 

^'"That  the  Geonim  wrote  three  times  to  Ben  Meir  is  repeatedly 
stated  by  Saadia  in  the  fragment  of  the  Sefer  ha-Moadim,  Bornstein, 
p.  61,  line  17;  63,  line  3;  comp.  Epstein,  Ha-Goren,  V,  138. 

^^^  Poznanski,  JQR.,  X,  154,  based  on  the  testimony  of  the  Karaite 
Sahl  b.  Mazliah;  see  the  references  given  above,  note  178,  and 
Bornstein,  pp.  7,  61,  n.  5. 

^'^  Comp.  Bornstein,  p.  13,  n.  3,  particularly  Ben  Meir's  letters  apud 
Bornstein,  pp.  56,  90. 


86  SAADIA  GAON 

or  the  complete  command  over  the  people  to  parry  the  de- 
termined onslaught  of  Ben  Meir,  whose  influence  reached 
far  beyond  the  boundaries  of  his  own  country  and  whose 
contention  was  not  without  merit.  In  fact,  it  was  partly 
because  of  the  weakened  standing  of  the  Gaonate  that  Ben 
Meir  could  venture  to  assert  his  authority  above  that  of 
Babylonia.  But  Saadia's  fiery  genius,  his  profound  learning, 
and  above  all  his  superior  literary  skill  proved  more  than  a 
match  for  his  opponent  and  finally  brought  about  Ben  Meir  s 
overthrow. 

It  is  characteristic  of  the  situation,  that,  as  Saadia  himself 
tells  us,  the  Babylonian  authorities,  having  failed  in  all  their 
efforts  against  the  disturber,  had  thought  of  calling  the 
government  to  their  assistance.''^  For  some  reason  not 
stated  they  gave  up  the  plan  and  decided  upon  issuing  a 
memorial-volume  (Sefer  ha-Zikkaron)  ^^  in  which  all  the 
misdeeds  of  Ben  Aleir  from  the  beginning  of  the  contro- 
versy to  its  end,  his  errors  in  calculation,  the  proceedings  of 
the  Gaonate  against  him,  and  particularly  the  reasons  for 
their  continued  upholding  of  the  accepted  calendar,  were  to  be 
minutely  recorded.  The  volume  was  to  be  spread  broad- 
cast   among    all    the    Jews    of    the    Diaspora,    with    the 

"^  This  results  from  a  passage  in  Saadia's  Sefer  ha-Moadim, 
Bornstein,  p.  65:  IT'DH^  "I^rOH  n^?Q  DlliN*  nnp^  IDETynn  ^'?^, 
which  means  that  they  did  not  make  up  their  mind  to  invoke  the 
government,  at  the  same  time  suggesting  that  the  appeal  was  con- 
sidered. This  does  not  contradict  the  passage  in  Bornstein,  p.  92, 
bottom  (better  given  in  the  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  V  (1914-1915),  p.  555, 
top),  where  Ben  Meir  reports  that  he  was  twice  imprisoned  and 
tortured  (comp.  Schechter,  Saadyana,  p.  22,  n.  i),  for  there  Ben 
Meir  has  reference  to  some  previous  entanglement  with  the  Karaites, 
who  denounced  him  to  the  government  for  some  unknown  reason 
and  procured  his  punishment.     Comp.  Bornstein,  p.  93,  n.  2. 

^** This  Sefer  Zikkaron  is  not  identical  with  the  Sefer  ha-Moadim, 
as  has  been  hitherto  assumed,  but  is  a  separate  work,  which  was 
written  by  Saadia  at  the  request  of  the  Exilarch  and  the  Geonim  for 
recitation  in  public.  As  I  have  shown  elsewhere  (see  Appendix, 
No.  9)  the  lengthy  fragment  in  Schechter's  Saadyana,  pp.  128-130 
(Bornstein,  pp.  99-102)  is  a  remnant  of  this  work. 


SAADIA'S  CONTROVERSY  WITH  BEN  MEIR  87 

special  injunction,  that  it  be  read  annually  in  public  on  the 
twentieth  of  'Bird,  before  the  approach  of  the  high  Holy 
Days,  and  thus  serve  as  a  warning  against  possible  upheavals 
of  a  similar  nature  in  all  future  generations.  It  was  again 
Saadia  who  was  charged  with  the  composition  of  this  impor- 
tant document.  He  wrote  the  book  in  the  summer  of  4682 
(922),  while  the  struggle  was  at  its  height.  It  was  read 
publicly,  as  provided,  in  the  month  of  'Eliil  of  the  same 
year.  Its  effect  on  the  communities  was  very  great,  ap- 
parently putting  an  end  to  the  agitation,  which  had  lasted 
for  nearly  two  years.  At  all  events,  nothing  more  is  heard 
of  Ben  Meir  during  the  following  years,  though  his  main 
intention  was  to  change  the  date  of  Rosh  ha-Shanah  of  the 
year  4684  (923)."' 

How  important  a  part  Saadia  had  in  the  regulation  of  the 
present  calendar  can  be  seen  also  from  the  fact  that  emi- 
nent authorities  of  later  centuries  '^  describe  him  as  the 
father  and  founder  of  the  science  of  the  calendar.  Most, 
if  not  all,  of  his  work  in  this  field  was  done  in  connection 
with  the  controversy  w^ith  Ben  Meir  or  his  polemics  with  the 
Karaites.  Its  contemporary  importance  may  be  judged  from 
the  fact  that  it  paved  the  way  to  Saadia's  election  to  the 
Gaonate ;  ^^^  but  the  lasting  moment  of  Saadia  for  the  Jew- 
ish world  and  his  influence  on  the  development  of  medi- 
aeval Jewish  literature  have  a  better  basis  than  his  discom- 
fiture of  Ben  Meir.  Considering  the  acrimony — almost  fe- 
rocity— with  which  the  quarrel  over  the  calendar  was  carried 

'^^^  It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  in  all  probability  there 
were  more  documents  relating  to  the  quarrel,  which  have  not  yet 
come  to  light.  Numerous  fragments  from  the  Genizah  which  are 
preserved  in  various  public  or  private  libraries,  are  still  awaiting 
examination  and  publication.  We  may  therefore  expect  that  the 
continued  search  among  the  treasured  documents  will  bring  to  light 
additional  details  bearing  upon  the  various  phases  of  the  controversy 
and  its  final  outcome. 

^*' So  the  Tosafist  Jacob  Tam  (12th  century);  see  for  further 
details  Bornstein,  p.  25 ;  below,  note  625. 

^"  See  above,  pp.  63-65. 


88  SAADIA  GAON 

on  by  both  controversialists/*^  especially  in  the  last  stages 
of  the  argument,  one  cannot  but  designate  it  as  a  deplorable 
episode. 

^^  Ben  Aleir's  letters  abound  in  personal  denunciations  and  abuses 
of  Saadia,  which  reveal  the  extreme  bitterness  of  the  writer ;  comp, 
e.^.thepassageBornstein,  p.  56:  DOn^H  Vinni  ^OVD^N  jl  l^VD 

D^:^D  yniN*n  nr^i  nn«^  5;:nD  ,D^i^Dni  onvon.   Not  satisfied 

with  the  attacks  on  the  character  of  his  opponent,  Ben  Meir  tried  to 
defame  also  Saadia's  family,  asserting,  as  he  says,  "  on  good 
authority  "  that  the  latter's  father  was  a  Muezzin  in  the  service  of  the 
Muhammedans,  defiled  himself  by  eating  abominations,  until  he  was 
driven  out  of  Egypt  and  died  in  Jaffa  (lianj  It^^N  "'VN^in  ^OV D  p 

n«3  t^^tDDi  HDD  rn^s*  n\iti^ ....  Dnti^^i  Dnnn  onyn  i:^jd^ 
iD-^n  DDT  Dnvo  n«»  ^^nnJi  n^'^v^^^  pio  ^:dxi  niTmny^Dn^'D; 

Bornstein,  p.  90)  ;  comp.  above,  pp.  27,  63.  Saadia  retaliates  by 
adorning  Ben  Meir  with  the  epithets  "I^Ji^non,  "the  obscurantist," 
and  l^t^^DH,  "the  accursed  one,"  both  in  satiric  allusion  to  the 
name  T'XQ;  comp.  Bornstein,  pp.  58,  n.  i;  62,  n.  i.  Ben  Meir's  sons 
he  terms  "calves"  (D''^:iy)  ;  see  above,  note  175. 


Chapter  V 

SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  TPIE  GAONATE 
(4688=928) 

In  the  course  of  the  inquiry  into  Saadia's  career,  the 
Ben  Meir  controversy  appears  to  the  investigator  like  an 
islet  emerging  suddenly  from  a  vast  void,  only  to  be  swal- 
lowed up  again  almost  as  soon  as  he  sets  foot  upon  it.  Even 
the  information  about  Saadia's  early  departure  from  Egypt 
has  come  to  us  from  one  of  the  documents  bearing  on  that 
controversy ; ""  while  for  the  period  of  the  years  between 
his  emigration  to  the  Holy  Land  and  his  appearance  on  the 
scene  with  Ben  Meir  (921),  one  searches  in  vain  for 
data  regarding  the  life  and  activity  of  the  future  Gaon. 
During  the  two  years  the  quarrel  appears  to  have  lasted 
he  is  seen  in  the  foreground  of  all  affairs,  but  as  soon  as 
the  controversy  abates,  he  is  lost  to  sight  for  another  period 
of  six  years  (922-28),  at  the  expiration  of  which  he  is  called 
to  the  Gaonate.  The  only  trace  of  his  existence  during  that 
period  is  a  passage  from  one  of  his  works,  quoted  by  a  later 
author,""  in  which  Saadia  refers  to  the  year  926  as  the  time 
of  his  writing. 

We  must  therefore  abandon  for  the  present  all  speculation 
as  to  events  and  happenings  in  the  life  of  Saadia  during 
the  few  years  preceding  his  installation  in  the  office  of 
Gaon.  Some  of  the  unexplored  and  unidentified  rem- 
nants of  manuscripts  from  the  Genizah  which  are  treas- 
ured in  various  public  and  private  libraries,  possibly  contain 
data  to  fill  the  gaps ;  but  until  such  material  turns  up,  we 

'""See  note  88  [and  Postscript]. 

""Abraham  b.  Hiyya,  astronomer  and  mathematician  of  the  12th 
century,  in  his  Sefer  ha-Ihbur,  London,  1851,  p.  96;  comp.  Rapoport's 
Biography  of  Saadia  in  the  Hebrew  periodical  DTlJ/n  ^"1133,  1828, 
p.  26,  end  of  note  i ;  Poznanski,  JQR.,  X,  245 ;  Graetz,  Geschichte,  V, 
Note  20,  no.  6;  above,  note  126. 

89 


90  SAADIA  GAON 

are  entitled  to  the  assumption  that  nothing  of  importance 
happened  during  these  blank  years  to  change  the  general 
aspect  of  his  personality.  Saadia  the  scholar  spent  most  of 
his  time  in  seclusion,  studying  and  writing.  Particularly  in 
the  period  before  us,  when  he  had  been  made  a  regular  mem- 
ber of  the  official  stafif  of  the  Sura  academy,  he  doubtless 
devoted  his  life  entirely  to  the  elaboration  and  completion 
of  his  numerous  works.  Years  of  study  and  research 
behind  closed  doors  are  not  commonly  fraught  with  personal 
events  of  such  general  interest  as  to  induce  contemporary 
chroniclers  to  record  them  for  the  benefit  of  future  genera- 
tions. As  for  the  petty  idiosyncrasies  of  a  Jewish  scholar 
or  the  trivial  incidents  of  his  daily  life,  there  was  no  Boswell 
at  hand  to  delight  in  watching  and  noting  them.  We  may 
pass  over  the  interval  between  the  Ben  Meir  episode  and 
Saadia's  election  to  the  Gaonate  with  the  assurance  that  it 
hides  no  phase  of  biographical  importance. 

The  period  now  to  be  taken  up  is  the  only  one  in  Saadia's 
life,  the  details  of  which  were  known  to  the  student  of 
Jewish  literature  before  the  discovery  of  the  Genizah.  Such 
details  may  be  derived  partly  from  the  works  of  Saadia 
himself,  partly  from  those  of  contemporaneous  authors  or 
from  well-authenticated  later  sources.  Hence  this  period  has 
been  more  or  less  minutely  treated  in  works  on  Jewish  his- 
tory in  general  or  on  Saadia  in  particular.  It  was  practically 
all  that  constituted  the  biography  of  the  Gaon.  But  even 
this  part  of  Saadia's  life  has  been  inadequately  described.  In 
the  few  existing  monographs"^  on  the  Gaon,  one  regularly 

*^  Separate  biographies  or  occasional  descriptions  of  Saadia's  life 
were  written  by  the  following  authors  (in  chronological  order)  : 

Rapoport,  incD  finipi  pt^:!  nnyo  i:)3n  nn^in.in  D^nyn  nna. 

IX  (1828),  20-37  (comp.  ih.,  X,  ^y  f.,  XI  B>2,  f.),  the  classic  source 
of  all  subsequent  writers  on  Saadia.  The  biographical  sketch, 
without  the  notes,  was  translated  into  German  by  Joseph  Zedner 
and  published  in  Ludwig  Stern's  Jiidische  Geschichte  in  Lehens- 
hildern,  Stuttgart,  1862,  pp.  136-138. 

S.  Munk,  Notice  sur  R.  Saadia  Gaon,  Paris,  1838. 

E.  Carmoly,  in  his  Revue  Orientale  (Brussels  1841-1846),  II,  33-46. 

L.  Dukes,  Beitriige,  TI  (1844),  5  ff. 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  G  AON  ATE         91 

finds  the  few  important  events  of  his  later  Hfe — his  election 
to  the  Gaonate,  his  subsequent  quarrel  with  the  Exilarch, 
his  deposition,  and  his  final  rehabilitation — put  together  in  a 
few  lines ;  while  the  rest  of  the  work  is  devoted  to  the  pres- 

A.  Geiger,  Wissenschaftliche  Zeiischrift,  V    (1844),  281-316. 

Steinschneider,  CB.,  coll.  2156  ff.,  and  later  in  Arab.  Liter.  (Frank- 
furt a/M.,  1902),  pp.  49-69;  comp.  Kaufmann's  Gcdenkbuch,  pp. 
144-168. 

Graetz,  Geschichte  der  Juden,  V,  fourth  edition  by  S.  Eppenstein, 
Leipzig,  1909,  pp.  282-315;  523-533;  Hebrew  translation  by  S.  P. 
Rabinowitz,  III  (Warsaw,  1893),  pp.  279-308;  465-473;  English  trans- 
lation, III   (Philadelphia,  1894),  pp.  187-202. 

M.  Joel,  in  Wertheim's  Jahrhuch  fur  Israeliten,  1865,  pp.  1-17. 

S.  J.  Fiinn  ^'^^  Dn^in^  in  ^QIIDH,  1871,  pp.  61-68. 

G.  Tal,  R.  Saadjah  Gaon,  in  "  Lesingen  gehouden  in  de  Vereeniging 
voor  Joodsche  Lctterkunde  en  Geschiedenis"  Hague,  1887. 

I.  H.  Weiss,  rt^'ini  in  in,  IV  (1887),  4th  edition,  Wilna,  1904. 
pp.  123-143. 

A.  Harkavy,  R.  Saadia  Gaon,  istorico-literaturnoe  chtenie,  Vos- 
khod,  1887,  pp.  82-104  (the  same  appeared  also  in  Hebrew  under  the 
title  D^3m  ni  by  H.  Mirsky,  in  the  periodical  '?i^1i^^  HDJ^, 
III,  Warsaw,  1888,  pp.  55-71 )  ;  comp.  also  Harkavy,  in  Zapisky  .... 
Riiskavo  Arkheologicheskavo  Obshchestwa,  V  (1891),  179-210;  VI, 
340. 

S.  A.  Taubeles,  Saadia  Gaon,  Halle  a/S.,  1888  (a  compilation 
without  value). 

D.  Kohn  (Kahana),  n«;  D'^l  nn^lfl^  12D,  Cracow,  1892  (reprint 
from  nnSDn  n':;i&<,   IV,  292-328). 

S.  Bernfeld,  jit?.!  Hnyo  IJni,  Cracow,  1892  (reprint  from  IVIfc^, 
nnSDH,  IV,  329-346;  698 — ,  as  a  biography  worthless). 

M.  Friedlander,  Life  and  Works  of  Saadia,  in  JQR.,  V  (1893), 
T77-199. 

G[regory]  H[enkel],  R.  Saadia  Gaon,  Opit  Characteristiki  evo 
Proisvedenii,  Voskhod,  1893,  IV,  12-25;  V,  104-119;  VIII,  121-138; 
IX,  42-61;  1894,  I,  118-143;  II,  130-146;  III,  136-146;  VI,  119-132; 
VIII,  112-126;  XI,  7-32;  XII,  131-138. 

W.  Engelkemper,  De  Saadiae  Gaonis  znta  etc.,  Miinster,  1897,  s- 
learned  dissertation. 

S.  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge  zur  Geschichte  und  Literatur  im  geondis- 
chen  Zeitalter  (reprint  from  MGWJ.,  1908-1913),  pp.  65-148;  215-218. 

A  brief  account  of  Saadia's  life  and  works  is  given  by  Bacher  in  the 
JE.,  X,  579-586;  and  lately  by  H.  Malter  in  Hastings'  Encyclopaedia 
of  Religion  and  Ethics,  s.  v.  Se'adiah  (vol.  XI)  ;  see  also  the  present 


92  SAADIA  GAON 

entation  of  his  teachings.  No  attempt  is  made  to  interpret 
these  events  in  the  Hght  of  contemporary  history.  We  shall 
therefore  not  be  bound  by  any  of  the  existing  presentations, 
but  will  dispose  of  the  material  from  the  old  sources  ^''' 
in  the  way  that  seems  best  adapted  to  the  plan  and  purpose 
of  the  present  work.  In  accordance  therewith  it  appears 
advisable  to  prepare  the  reader  for  a  fuller  understanding 
of  the  essential  points  in  the  development  of  the  last  and  the 
most  significant  epoch  of  Saadia's  life,  by  a  brief  account  of 
the  two  important  institutions  of  mediaeval  Babylonian 
Jewry — the  Exilarchate  and  the  Gaonate — and  of  their  re- 
lations to  one  another. 

The  origin  of  the  Exilarchate,  which,  according  to  the  his- 
torical sources  maintained  its  place  in  Babylon  for  over 
eight  centuries,  is  not  fully  known.    An  old  tradition  claims 

writer's  article  Philosophy,  ibidem,  vol.  IX,  pp.  873-877)  ;  comp.  also 
A.  Kaminka  in  Winter  and  Wunsche's  Die  jiidische  Litteratur,  II,  28- 

31 ;  nytD^x^yt:)^D  r«  lytoyj^a  n^^  ^vp^V]  v^'i^'i^  DnnTr:i  .5^  n"  i 

New  York,  1918,  pp.  21-33.  Finally,  biographical  accounts  of 
Saadia  are  to  be  found  with  more  or  less  detail  in  the  introduc- 
tions to  the  numerous  editions  of  Saadia's  writings,  mostly  repeat- 
ing the  older  authorities,  as  Rapoport,  Munk,  Geiger,  Graetz,  and 
Steinschneider.  See  the  detailed  Bibliography  in  the  present  work, 
especially  sections  I,  V. — An  article  on  "The  Time  of  Saadya"  by 
S.  Koch  (Hebrew  Union  College  Journal,  vol.  VI,  Cincinnati,  1902, 
pp.  168-174)  may  here  be  recorded  for  bibliographers. 

^^^  These  are  in  the  main  the  Report  of  Nathan  ha-Babli,  a  con- 
temporary of  Saadia,  ed.  Neubauer,  Mediceval  Jewish  Chronicles,  II, 
77-88 ;  the  Epistle  of  Sherira  Gaon,  ed.  Neubauer,  ib.,  I,  39  f . 
Abraham  b.  David's  account  in  his  n^SPH  TlD  (Neubauer,  ib.,  I,  65  f.), 
which  conflicts  in  many  essential  points  with  the  reports  of  Nathan 
and  Sherira,  is  disregarded  as  less  reliable.  Later  authors,  as 
Menahem  Meiri  (Neubauer,  II,  224),  Isaac  Lattes  {ib.,  p.  233)  and 
Saadia  Ibn  Danan,  ntlJJ  mDH,  ed.  Edelmann,  Konigsberg,  1856,  p. 
28,  merely  repeat  the  unfounded  statements  of  Abraham  b.  David, 
though  for  some  points  they  may  have  had  also  other  sources.  For 
Nathan  and  the  historicity  of  his  Report  see  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  22- 
36;  comp.  Marx.  ZfhB.,  XIII,  169,  and  Poznanski,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol. 
Ill  (1912-1913),  pp.  400  f.  In  the  following  the  Report  will  be 
referred  to  only  by  the  word  "  Nathan,"  and  the  pages  are  those  of 
Neubauer's  edition.  The  same  edition  is  used  also  for  the  Letter 
of  Sherira. 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  G  AON  ATE         93 

no  less  a  personage  than  King  Jehoiachin  as  the  first 
Babylonian  Exilarch  (597  b.  c.  e.).  This  tradition  is  based 
on  II  Kings,  24-25,  where  it  is  told  that  Jehoiachin  was 
brought  captive  to  Babylon  and  imprisoned,  but  later  freed 
by  King  Evil-merodach  and  given  a  place  of  honor.  "  The 
craftsmen  and  the  smiths,"  who  were  taken  into  captivity 
together  with  the  King  (II  Kings,  24.  16)  are  interpreted 
homiletically  to  be  the  King's  retinue  of  scholars  and 
prophets."^  A  chronicler  of  the  eighth  century,^'*  the  first 
to  mention  the  captive  Judaean  King  as  the  founder  of  the 
Exilarchate,  in  an  effort  to  establish  a  continuous  chain  of 
Exilarchs  of  Davidic  descent,"""  makes  up  a  list  of  such  dig- 

^^ Sifre,  section  I^Mt^Pl,  §  321,  and  Seder  'Olam,  ch.  25,  which  are 
the  source  of  the  Talmudim  and  Midrashim ;  see  the  references  given 
by  Ratner  in  his  edition  of  the  Seder  'Olam,  ad  locum.  These  sources 
do  not  designate  King  Jehoiachin  as  the  first  Exilarch.  He  receives 
this  title  only  in  the  works  of  a  later  period  in  which,  however,  the 
authors  gave  expression  to  ideas  only  that  were  current  among  the 
people  long  before ;  see  the  next  note. 

^'^I  refer  to  the  anonymous  author  of  the  «tOn  D^li?  IID.  This 
dry  chronicle,  covering  only  a  few  pages  (in  Neubauer's  MJC,  II, 
68-73),  exists  in  various  recensions  and  editions,  also  in  Latin  trans- 
lations, and  with  commentaries.  For  the  literature  see  Steinschneider, 
Geschichtsliteratur  der  Juden,  §  9,  and  additions  on  p.  173.  The  most 
important  and  minute  study  on  the  subject  is  the  one  by  Felix  Lazarus, 
Die  H'duptcr  der  Vertriehenen,  in  Briill's  Jahrbilcher,  etc.,  X  (the 
entire  volume),  also  separately,  Frankfurt  a/M.,  1890.  In  the  follow- 
ing I  shall  refer  to  this  study  by  quoting  only  the  name  of  the  author ; 
comp.  also  Abr.  Krochmal,  ''^nn  TlQ^n^  nn^?^1  D"'t^nD,  Lemberg, 
1881,  pp.  1-73  (Steinschneider,  H.B.,  XXI,  p.  122).  The  chronicler 
does  not  state  explicitly  that  Jehoiachin  was  Exilarch,  though  this 
is  obviously  his  view,  but  in  a  fragmentary  version  of  the  same 
Chronicle,  in  Neubauer's  MJC,  I,  195,  it  is  said  of  the  king:  13''^ini 
^Xnti'^  '?V  n^^DHI  ni^n;  comp.  Lazarus,  ib.,  pp.  19,  n.  4;  55,  n.  i; 
158,  n.  I.  Among  other  ancient  authors  who  follow  this  tradition  may 
be  mentioned  the  Gaon  Zemah  b.  Hayyim  of  Sura  (882)  in  his  Letter 
concerning  Eldad.  (See  Jellinek,  Bet  ha-Midrasch,  II,  113)  ;  Sherira, 
p.  26;  comp.  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  5.  Ebjatar  in  Schechter's 
Saadyana,  p.  87,  line  27 ;  p.  89,  line  27,  has  reference  to  the  same  idea, 
but  in  a  derogatory  sense,  pointing  to  the  wicked  ancestors  of  the 
Exilarchs,  among  them  Jehoiachin. 

^"^  Zunz,  Gottesdienstliche  Vortrdge  (1892),  p.  142;  Steinschneider, 
Geschichtsliteratur  der  Juden,  §  9;  comp.  Lazarus,  pp.  19,  29  f. 


94  SAADIA  GAON 

nitaries  reaching  down  to  the  year  520  c.  e.  The  names  of 
the  earHer  Exilarchs  are  all  identical  with  those  of  the 
King's  descendants  enumerated  in  I  Chron.  3.  17-24,  all  of 
whom  according  to  the  author  lived  and  died  in  Babylon.  The 
names  of  the  Exilarchs  of  later  generations  are  taken  partly 
from  the  Talmud  and  partly  from  unknown  sources.  The 
historicity  of  this  list,  so  far  as  the  Biblical  part  is  concerned, 
is  beyond  control.  The  latter  part,  however,  beginning  about 
the  middle  of  the  second  century  c.  e.,  is  authenticated  by 
Talmudic  and  other  evidence.  Other  lists  of  Exilarchs  of 
still  later  periods,  from  520  to  940,  or  even  1040,  are  pre- 
served in  various  sources,  more  or  less  trustworthy.'^  Leav- 
ing aside  those  whose  names  are  recorded  in  the  Bible,  and 
whose  Exilarchal  dignity  may  be  legendary,"^  there  are 
still  at  least  thirty-three  Exilarchs  "^  accounted  for  histor- 
ically by  recent  investigation. 

The  history  of  the  Exilarchate  is  thus  divided  into  two 
distinct  periods ;  the  first  when  Babylonia  was  under  Persian 
rulers  (the  Arsacids  and  the  Sassanids)  and  the  second  when 
it  came  under  the  Caliphate  of  the  Arabs  (651). 

The  exact  circumstances  under  which  the  office  came  mto 
existence  are  unknown.  From  the  moment  when  the  light 
of  history  falls  upon  the  institution,  it  is  evident  that  the 
Exilarch  was  the  governor  of  Jewish  Babylonia,  appointed 
by  the  ruler  of  Persia  and  vested  with  full  authority  over  his 
Jewish  subjects.^"  As  such  he  was  responsible  only  to  the 
king.  His  duties  were  to  maintain  order  among  the  people 
under  his  jurisdiction  and  see  to  it  that  the  taxes  imposed 
upon  the  Jewish  communities  were  collected  and  delivered 
into  the  imperial  treasury.     At  certain  festivities  he  had  to 

"'  See  the  various  lists  in  Lazarus's  work,  pp.  171-173,  180. 

"^  Comp.  Lazarus,  pp.  62  f . 

"'Beginning  with  a  certain  Nahum  (about  140,  c.  e.),  who  is 
supposed  to  be  identical  with  one  Ahiah,  or  Nehunyon,  mentioned  in 
the  Talmud,  and  ending  with  David  b.  Zakkai  (died  940),  the 
opponent  of  Saadia.  Comp.  Lazarus,  pp.  65  ff;  Bacher,  Jewish 
Encyclopedia,  V,  288. 

^^  Lazarus,  p.  87,  and  in  more  detail,  pp.  131  ff. 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  G  AON  ATE         95 

appear  among  the  other  dignitaries  of  the  empire  and  par- 
ticipate in  the  court  functions.  In  his  deaHngs  with  the 
Jewish  population  he  was  entirely  independent,  often  also 
overbearing  and  oppressive.  In  accordance  with  oriental 
custom,  and  being  wealthy  in  his  own  right,  he  maintained 
his  Exilarchal  court  with  considerable  pomp  and  circum- 
stance, surrounding  himself  with  a  large  retinue  of  servants 
and  courtiers,  who  had  to  observe  etiquette  and  official  cere- 
monies similar  to  those  practised  at  the  Persian  court.  It 
was  the  prerogative  of  the  Exilarch  to  appoint  judges  for 
the  Jews  from  among  the  prominent  scholars  of  the  time, 
one  of  whom  was  the  supreme  judge.  The  latter  had  to 
reside  at  the  Exilarch's  court.''"" 

Some  of  the  Exilarchs,  who  vv^ere  themselves  learned  in 
the  religious  law,  are  reported  by  the  Talmud  '"^  to  have 
acted  as  presidents  of  the  judicial  tribunal.  On  the  whole, 
however,  the  Exilarch  was  not  a  representative  of  religious, 
that  is  to  say,  spiritual  Judaism.  His  ambitions  and  aspira- 
tions were  of  a  worldly  and  political  nature.  Such  was  the 
natural  consequence  of  the  fact  that  the  office  was  hereditary 
in  one  family,  which  traced  its  pedigree  to  the  house  of 
David.  Not  only  the  Exilarchs  themselves,  but  also  the  Jews 
in  general  looked  upon  their  rule  as  a  continuation  of  the  old 
Judean  kingdom.^*'^  Conscious  of  their  dignity  and  power, 
the  Exilarchs  often  placed  themselves  above  the  spiritual 
leaders  of  the  people.    Talmudic  literature  affords  numerous 

^°'' Lazarus,  pp.  143,  n.  2;  148,  n.  i;  comp.  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I, 
p.  II,  n.  4. 

^^  Shabbat,  55a,  Mo'ed  Katan,  i6b,  Kiddushin,  44^;  comp.  Lazarus, 
p.  96,  n.  5. 

^^The  verse,  "The  scepter  shall  not  depart  from  Judah,  nor  a 
lawgiver  from  between  his  feet"  (Gen.  49,  10),  was  accordingly 
interpreted  as  referring  to  the  Exilarchs  and  Patriarchs  of  Babylonia 
and  Palestine;  see  Synhedrin,  5a;  comp.  Ginzberg,  /.  c,  p.  i.  Bacher, 
however,  properly  remarks  (/£.,  V,  289),  that  the  Baraita  intends  to 
cast  a  reflection  on  the  Exilarchs.  Sherira,  p.  27,  puts  upon  the 
Baraita  the  interpretation  of  the  Talmud,  that  Babylon  is  more 
important  than  Palestine ;  comp.  Tosafot  ad  locum;  Lazarus,  p.  142. 


90  SAADIA  GAON 

instances  of  the  ill-treatment  of  eminent  scholars  by  Ex- 
ilarchs,  and  especially  by  their  unscrupulous  officials."^" 

This  attitude  gradually  created  a  certain  antagonism  to 
the  ruling  house  among  the  people,  notably  among  the  learned 
men,  which  has  found  expression  in  various  passages  of  the 
Talmud.""**  There  is,  however,  no  proof  that  the  E^ilarchs 
ever  made  themselves  so  objectionable  as  to  arouse  a 
general  desire  to  see  the  office  abolished.  On  the  contrary, 
whatever  dissatisfaction  may  have  been  felt  at  times,  it  was 
cheerfully  suppressed  in  favor  of  this  real  or  supposed  Da- 
vidic  dynasty,  the  only  remnant  of  ancient  glory.  Thus,  at  a 
later  period,  under  the  dominion  of  the  Arabs,  when  the 
privileges  of  the  Exilarchs  had  been  considerably  curtailed, 
and  their  former  independence  in  dealing  with  the  Jewish 
population  so  reduced  that  the  government  would  not  recog- 
nize them  unless  they  had  been  chosen  by  popular  vote,  the 
people  remained  loyal  to  the  traditional  house  of  David  and 
regularly  elected  a  member  of  the  royal  family.^"  Moreover, 
a  few  of  the  Exilarchs  of  Talmudic  times  endeared  them- 
selves by  great  learning,  noble  conduct,  and  just  administra- 
tion. Many  legendary  stories  were  later  woven  about  their 
names,  glorifying  their  memory. 

Very  little  is  known  of  the  history  of  the  individual  Ex- 
ilarchs under  the  Muhammedan  rule,  from  660,  when  a 
prince  by  the  name  of  Bostanai  was  elected  to  the  office, 
down  to  the  time  of  Saadia.  Several  incidents  that  can  be 
adduced  from  the  scanty  sources  indicate,  however,  that 
the  strained  relations  between  the  Exilarchs  and  the  scholars 
of  the  academies,^"^  which  marked  the  Talmudic  epoch,  con- 
tinued also  during  the  second  period  of  the  Exilarchate. 

^•"  Gittin,  14b,  67b;  'Abodah  Zarah,  38^;  Shabbat,  58a,  121b; 
Yerushalmi  Baba  Batra,  end  of  ch.  5;  comp.  also  'Erubin,  26a; 
Bacher,  JE.,  V,  291,  bottom;  Lazarus,  p.  149. 

^  See  Synhedrin,  38a ;  Shabbat,  S4b,  bottom  ;  Lazarus,  pp.  73,  n.  6 ; 
150,  n.  I. 

^*  Lazarus,  pp.  131  ff.;  145. 

^'  See  the  instances  given  below,  p.  103. 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  GAONATE         97 

When  we  reach  the  century  of  Saadia,  the  antagonism 
between  the  two  forces  assumes  a  definite  form,  tending 
toward  mutual  annihilation,  until  circumstances  do  prac- 
tically put  an  end  to  the  official  existence  of  both. 

If  the  Exilarchate  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  shadowy 
representative  of  the  Jewish  body-politic  after  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Jewish  state,  the  Gaonate,  as  a  spiritual  organiza- 
tion, must  be  regarded  as  the  informing  and  inspiring  life- 
principle  of  that  body.  In  the  history  of  the  Jewish  people, 
perhaps  more  than  in  the  history  of  other  peoples,  one  may 
observe,  without  special  efifort,  the  existence  side  by  side  of 
two  important  factors,  the  political  and  the  spiritual;  but 
with  the  spiritual  always  in  the  foreground.  Even  during 
the  time  of  Israel's  political  independence,  the  only  period 
when  the  two  tendencies  might  have  manifested  themselves 
equally,  this  aspect,  one  may  unhesitatingly  assert,  was  pre- 
dominant. 

The  men  in  whose  lives  and  activities  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  aspirations  of  the  nation  find  clear  expression,  have 
received  from  time  to  time  different  collective  designations, 
in  accordance  with  the  accepted  usages  and  customs  of  the 
respective  ages.  But  whether  they  appear  in  history  as  Elders, 
Prophets,  Men  of  the  Great  Synod,  Tannaim,  Amoraim, 
Saboraim,  Geonim,  or  under  the  designations  of  intellectual 
leadership  in  later  ages — and  while  their  activities  naturally 
differ  in  scope  and  compass  with  the  varying  conditions  of 
the  times — their  inspiration  and  their  message  are  intrinsi- 
cally the  same  throughout  all  the  generations.  Their  endeav- 
ors serve  the  one  great  purpose  of  perpetuating  the  Torah 
and  making  Israel  the  worthy  people  of  God.  In  the 
unbroken  chain  of  great  men  who  have  worked  successively 
and  successfully  for  the  realization  of  this  high  purpose, 
the  Geonim  are  the  links  between  the  generations  of  the 
Talmud  and  the  Middle  Ages.  Through  them,  the  heritage 
of  the  Orient  comes  down  to  its  successor,  the  Occident. 

As  is  often  the  case  with  the  great  movements  and  insti- 
tutions of  a  remote  past,  the  beginnings  of  the  Gaonate  are 
but  imperfectly  known.  Nor  is  even  the  original  meaning  of 
7 


98  SAADIA  GAON 

the  title  Gaon  established  beyond  doubt.  We  are  here  not 
concerned,  however,  with  details ;  a  few  general  points  will 
suffice. 

The  Geonim  merely  continued  the  educational  work, 
mutatis  mutandis,  of  their  predecessors,  the  Saboraim,  who 
in  turn  succeeded  the  Amoraim,  the  creators  of  the  Tal- 
mud."^'  The  two  Babylonian  academies,  over  which  they 
presided,  were  founded  by  two  distinguished  Amoraim,  Rab 
and  Samuel,  as  early  as  the  first  part  of  the  third  cen- 
tury. Their  work  differed  from  that  of  their  forerunners, 
inasmuch  as  they  did  not  feel  themselves  called  upon  to  add 
to  the  content  of  the  Talmud  or  to  change  its  form.  They 
confined  themselves  to  its  study,  elucidation,  and  interpre- 
tation. Eventually  they  also  issued  legal  and  religious  deci- 
sions in  doubtful  cases.  Their  function,  thus,  would  hardly 
in  itself  have  justified  the  assumption  of  the  new  designation 
( Gaon  =  Highness,  Excellency).  This  title,  then,  whatever 
the  reason  for  its  selection  may  have  been,  was  not  intended, 
like  the  earlier  class-names  mentioned,  to  be  descriptive  of 
the  scholarly  activity  and  significance  of  its  bearers.  It  must 
have  attached  itself  to  their  names  in  their  official  capacity 
as  the  religious  representatives  of  Babylonian  Jewry,  recog- 
nized as  such  by  the  government.  Its  adoption  as  a  symbol 
of  office  must,  therefore,  coincide  with  the  governmental 
recognition  and  endorsement  of  that  office. 

There  are  no  definite  data  enabling  us  to  determine  when 
this  recognition  by  the  government  took  place.  On  general 
grounds,  supported  by  an  incidental  reference  by  the  Gaon 

^^The  differences  between  the  Geonim  and  Amoraim  pointed  out 
by  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  1,  6,  may  readily  be  admitted,  yet  these  differ- 
ences are  the  natural  result  of  changed  times  and  conditions.  The 
general  aspect  of  the  development  of  Jewish  tradition  and  its  repre- 
sentatives is  not  altered  thereby.  In  its  basic  idea  this  view  coincides 
with  the  doctrine  of  the  uninterrupted  continuity  of  Jewish  tradition, 
which  is  emphasized  by  all  Jewish  writers.  That  the  scholars  of 
every  generation  are  the  successors  of  the  prophets  is  often  expressed 
also  by  Saadia ;  see  'Emiinot,  ed.  Slucki,  p.  49,  bottom;  Harkavy, 
Zikron,  V,  158,  n.  5;  Steinschneider,  Alforabi,  115,  n.  49;  comp. 
Dieterici,  Weltseele,  pp.  139,  175. 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  G  AON  ATE         99 

Sherira,  the  historian  par  excellence  of  the  Geonim,  it  may 
be  assumed  with  a  high  degree  of  certainty  that  it  happened 
under  the  fourth  caliph,  'Ah,  the  son-in-law  of  Muhammed. 
In  the  year  658  he  granted  religious  autonomy  to  the  acad- 
emy of  Sura,"^^  freeing  it  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Exil- 
archs,  who  prior  to  that  time  had  meddled  in  its  affairs.  It  is 
true  that  the  same  Sherira  designates  as  Geonim  all  the 
scholars  that  presided  over  the  two  academies  long  before 
the  rise  of  the  Caliphate,  beginning  with  the  year  589.  This 
does  not  prove,  however,  that  these  scholars  were  actually 
invested  with  the  title  in  their  own  time.  Nor  is  there  any 
evidence  to  prove  that  the  title  Gaon  had  come  into  use  in 
the  earlier  period.  It  is  known  that  the  continuity  of  presi- 
dents of  the  two  Babylonian  academies.  Sura  and  Pum- 
bedita,  had  been  interrupted  for  several  decades  previous  to 
the  year  589.  Owing  to  persecutions  by  some  of  the  Per- 
sian rulers,  both  institutions  had  to  close  their  doors.""'"'  The 
period  of  the  Saboraim  had  thus  been  brought  to  an  abrupt 
end.  But  with  the  accession  of  the  humane  Chosru  II 
(589)  settled  conditions  returned,  and  the  academy  of 
Pumbedita  resumed  its  work  at  once ;  the  academy  of  Sura 
following,  so  far  as  is  known,  twenty  years  later  (609).^" 
Sherira  obviously  considers  the  period  during  which  the 
academies  were  closed  as  marking  the  end  of  the  old  line  of 
presidents,  known  under  the  title  Saboraim,  and  the  inaugu- 
ration of  a  new  line.  The  later  line,  beginning  with  the 
year  589  and  extending  to  658,  had  no  distinguishing  title, 
except  the  one  that  has  always  been  used  as  a  general 
designation,  Reshe  Metibata,  Heads  of  the  Academies. 
Sherira,  therefore,  not  caring  to  make  a  distinction  between 
the  presidents  of  the  academies  under  Persian  rule  and  those 

'"^Graetz,  V,  Note  13;  English  edition.  Til,  90  f. ;  comp.  Ginzberg, 
^-  <"v  P-  53-  That  the  Caliph  gave  special  privileges  to  the  academy  of 
Sura  may  be  disputed,  but  the  fact  remains  that  the  spiritual  leaders 
of  the  people  chose  Sura  as  the  institution  representing  Babylonian 
Jewry  as  an  autonomous  religious  body. 

■'"'Graetz   (English),  III,  4  f . ;  comp.  Briill,  Jahrbuchcr,  IT,  50-53. 

^^  Graetz,  /.  c,  pp.  9  f . 


loo  SAADIA  GAON 

under  the  Caliphate,  applied  the  title  Gaon,  very  general  in 
his  days,  to  all  the  past  presidents  alike.  For  the  same 
reason  he  also  designates  as  Geonim  all  the  presidents  of  the 
Pumbedita  academy,  although,  as  has  been  proved  lately, 
they  probably  received  that  title  only  under  the  Caliphate  of 
Al-Ma'mun  (830).'"  He  even  applies  the  title,  though  not 
so  consistently,  to  Amoraim  who  happened  to  be  presi- 
dents of  the  academies — for  example  to  R.  Hisda  (died  309) 
andR.  'Ashi  (died  427)/" 

It  is  therefore  unnecessary  either  to  continue  the  period 
of  the  Saboraim  into  the  seventh  century,  or  to  reach  back 
for  the  origin  of  the  title  Gaon  into  the  time  of  Persian  rule. 
The  truth  is  that  the  Saboraic  period  ended  in  the  middle  of 
the  sixth  century.  Then  followed  a  gap  of  about  forty  years 
of  total  inactivity.  When  the  work  of  the  two  schools  was 
finally  resumed,  their  rectors  had  no  specific  titles  differen- 
tiating them  as  a  class,  until  the  second  half  of  the  seventh 
century,  when  the  Muhammedan  rulers  granted  to  the  spirit- 
ual leaders  of  Judaism  full  religious  authority  with  definite 
rights  and  compensation.  But  even  then  only  the  heads  of 
the  more  renowned  academy  of  Sura  assumed  the  title  '*  Ex- 
cellency "  (Gaon).  Those  of  the  sister  academy  in  Pum- 
bedita remained  what  they  had  been  theretofore,  rectors  of 
their  institution,  without  special  titles'"  or  privileges.  In 
all  official  matters  they  had  to  submit  to  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Exilarchs,  whilst  in  religious  questions  they  depended 
upon  the  decisions  of  Sura.  This  state  of  affairs  continued 
until  the  year  830,  when,  under  the  new  regulations  of  Al- 
Ma'mun,  they  were  put  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  Geonim 
in  Sura,  which  meant,  likewise,  their  liberation  from  the  in- 

"''Graetz,  V,  Note  12,  no.  6;  English  edition,  III,  155,  177; 
Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  54. 

^  Comp.  Briill,  Jahrbiicher,  II,  50,  n.  "72. 

""^  Poznanski  {JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  Ill  (1912-1913),  p.  402),  however, 
thinks  that  the  Pumbeditan  rectors  too  may  have  assumed  the  title 
Gaon,  though  they  were  not  recognized  as  Geonim  by  the  authorities 
of  Sura. 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  GAONATE        loi 

terference  of  the  Exilarchs  in  their  internal  affairs.'" 
Morally ,'""  however,  they  did  not  gain  the  standing  and  recog- 
nition enjoyed  by  the  chiefs  of  Sura,  except  perhaps  for 
occasional  short  periods,  when  one  or  another  among  them 
happened  to  excel  his  rival  in  Sura  through  extraordinary 
learning  or  other  personal  qualities. 

To  this  brief  summary  of  the  main  points  in  the  external 
history  of  the  Geonim  it  remains  but  to  add  a  few  observa- 
tions concerning  the  relations  between  the  spiritual  heads 
of  Jewry  and  their  political  counterparts,  the  Exilarchs.  It 
was  noted  before  that  a  more  or  less  outspoken  antagon- 
ism between  the  Exilarchs  and  the  leading  scholars  had 
existed  as  far  back  as  Talmudic  times.  So  long  as  the 
spiritual  representatives  of  Talmudic  Judaism  were  not 
organized  into  a  regular  religious  body,  with  a  well-defined 
religious  policy,  the  antagonism  of  some  of  the  worldly, 
often  religiously  lax,  Princes  of  the  Exile  could  express 
itself  only  sporadically  and  individually.  With  the  grow- 
ing importance  of  the  academies,  however,  when  their 
influence  over  all  classes  of  the  Jewish  population,  especially 
the  humble  pious  masses,  had  become  a  factor  to  be  reckoned 
with,  the  Princes,  always  jealously  safeguarding  their  dig- 
nity and  prestige,  could  not  avoid  misgivings  that  eventually 
led  to  open,  inimical  action. 

The  bad  feeling  between  the  two  forces  could  only  have 
been  aggravated,  when,  under  the  leadership  of  a  strong 
president,   as,   for  example,   R.   Ashi,   the   academies   suc- 

^"  Nevertheless  even  after  this  time  quarrels  between  the  Exilarchs 
and  the  Pumbedita  academy  occurred  quite  often,  due,  as  we  shall 
see  later,  to  the  strained  relations  that  existed  between  the  two 
houses.  The  power  of  the  Exilarchs,  however,  was  gone,  and  at  a 
later  period  we  even  find  that  the  Geonim  deposed  unpleasant 
Exilarchs. 

"'  Financially,  too,  there  was  a  great  distinction  made  between  the 
two  academies.  Sura  receiving  two-thirds  of  certain  revenues,  while 
Pumbedita  received  one-third.  This  unequal  distribution  of  the 
income  was  changed  only  by  the  Gaon  Kohen  Zedek  in  926,  when  it 
was  decided  that  both  institutions  should  divide  equally ;  see  below, 
pp.  106  f.;  Graetz  (English),  III,  93  f. 


102  SAADIA  GAOy 

ceeded  in  lessening  the  authority  of  the  Exilarchate  and 
abohshing-  some  of  its  former  rights  and  prerogatives."" 
Of  the  relation  existing  between  the  two  sides  during  the 
short  Saboraic  period  nothing  is  known.  In  the  tur- 
bulent times  of  the  sixth  century,  when  persecution  fol- 
lowed persecution,  there  was  hardly  any  spirit  left  in  Baby- 
lonian Jewry  for  the  adjustment  of  internal  differences. 
The  academies  had  finally  to  suspend  their  work,  and  the 
Exilarchate  existed  only  nominally,  if  at  all.^^  When  under 
the  last  Sassanid  kings,  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventh 
century,  more  favorable  conditions  for  the  Jews  set  in,  and 
the  academies  resumed  their  activity  under  the  presidency 
of  the  so-called  earlier  Geonim,  the  bickerings  between  them 
and  the  Exilarchs  must  have  assumed  a  grave  character."^' 
There  are  no  details  relating  to  the  inner  history  of  the  in- 
stitutions under  these  Geonim.  However,  one  statement  of 
Sherira,  the  only  contemporary  historian  of  theGeonic  period, 
regarding  the  conditions  then  prevailing,  speaks  volumes. 
Having  discussed  the  succession  of  the  Pumbedita  Geonim  of 
that  early  period,  he  declares  :  "  The  succession  of  the  Geonim 
at  Sura  in  those  earHer  years  (up  to  689)  is  not  quite  clear 
to  me,  owing  to  the  disorders  and  revolutions  caused  by  the 
Exilarchs,  who  deposed  Geonim  and  installed  them  again.''  "*" 
It  should  not  be  thought,  however,  that  the  Geonim  of 
his  own  academy,  at  Pumbedita,  fared  any  better,  though 
he  appears  to  be  better  informed  on  their  early  history.  A 
glance  at  the  report  of  Sherira  proves,  to  the  contrary,  that 
the  Pumbedita  institution  was  subject  to  the  same  ill-treat- 

"'Comp.  Lazarus,  pp.  104,  111-113. 

'"Lazarus,  p.  128. 

"*  Of  the  conditions  prevailing  during  that  period  Sherira,  p.  33, 
has  the  following  to  say :  "  Under  the  Persian  regime  and  at  the 
beginning  of  Muhammedan  rule  the  Exilarchs  wielded  tyrannical 
power  and  exercised  great  authority,  for  they  bought  the  Exilarchate 
with  large  sums  of  money.  There  were  some  among  them  who 
harrassed  the  scholars  and  oppressed  them  greatly ;  "  comp.  Lazarus, 
p.  140. 

"'Neubauer,  MJC,  I,  136;  comp.  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  15. 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  GAONATE        103 

ment  by  the  Exilarchs,  and  for  a  much  longer  period  than 
the  one  at  Sura.  As  before  noted,  Sura  had  succeeded  in 
obtaining  perfect  religious  autonomy  as  early  as  the  year 
658,'^"  so  that  henceforth  nothing  is  heard  of  any  Exilarchal 
interference  with  its  management,  while  Pumbedita  re- 
mained under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Exilarchs  for  nearly 
two  centuries  longer.  During  that  long  period  depositions 
of  Geonim,  who  for  one  reason  or  another  had  incurred  the 
displeasure  of  the  Princes,  and  installations  of  others,  who 
proved  subservient  to  their  purposes,  were  of  frequent 
occurrence.  In  719,  to  quote  only  one  instance,  the  Gaon 
Natronai  I,  a  close  relative  of  the  Exilarch,  wielded  his 
power  so  tyranically  that  the  scholars  of  his  insti- 
tution fled  to  Sura,  where  they  remained  until  after  his 
death."^  To  show  the  nature  of  Exilarchal  interference 
with  the  academy  it  is  also  interesting  to  note  that  in 
828,  when  two  Princes  laid  claim  to  the  Exilarchate,  each 
of  the  pretenders  appointed  his  Gaon,  so  that  for  a  time 
Pumbedita  was  blessed  with  two  Geonim."^^  Friction  of  one 
kind  or  another  must  have  occurred  even  after  the  rescript 
of  Al-Ma'mun  (830),  when  Pumbedita  too  became  inde- 
pendent, though  for  a  long  interval  no  case  is  actually 
recorded.  About  the  year  920,  shortly  before  the  time  of 
Saadia's  appointment  at  Sura,  we  hear  again  of  a  violent 
feud  of  five  years'  standing  between  the  Exilarch  'Ukba  and 
the  Gaon  Kohen  Zedek,""'  or  according  to  the  account  of 
Sherira,   between  the   Exilarch   David  b.   Zakkai   and   the 

""  This  date  does  not  necessarily  conflict  with  the  statement  of 
Sherira,  that  there  were  troubles  and  disorders  prior  to  689,  For 
the  words  ^<n^?ntD1  NnXDISn  linn  n^XI  need  not  be  taken  so 
literally  as  to  cover  also  the  last  three  decades  (658-689).  The  men 
were  not  always  at  war,  and  there  were  also  times  of  peace.  More- 
over, it  may  have  taken  some  time  before  the  Exilarchs  got  used  to 
the  new  order  of  things,  and  during  that  time  friction  may  have 
occurred,  though  no  record  thereof  has  come  to  us. 

"^  Sherira,  35 ;  comp.  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  16. 

**"  Sherira,  p.  38,  top;  comp.  Ginzberg,  /.  c,  p.  21 ;  Graetz  (English), 
III,  155  f. 

'^  Nathan  ha-Babli,  p.  79. 


104  SAADIA  GAON 

Gaon  Mubashshir  of  Pumbedita  and  his  supporters."''  There 
are  indications  that  even  at  Sura  things  were  not  always 
very  quiet,  though  the  Exilarchs  may  not  have  dared  to  use 
the  same  tactics  as  in  Pumbedita.  The  fact  that  Sherira 
does  not  record  any  instance  of  Exilarchal  meddling  with 
the  aftairs  of  that  academy,  does  not  prove  its  total  ab- 
sence. Sherira,  as  is  well  known,  was  particularly  inter- 
ested in  relating  the  history  of  his  own  academy  (Pum- 
bedita) and  shows  no  intention  of  describing  in  detail  the 
events  at  Sura.  It  is  hardly  probable  that  the  quarrel  be- 
tween the  above-mentioned  Exilarch  David  b.  Zakkai  and 
Saadia,  which  we  are  now  about  to  discuss,  was  the  first  in  the 
long  history  of  the  Sura  academy  since  its  emancipation  in 
the  seventh  century.  Similar  conflicts  must  have  arisen  at 
previous  times.  They  may  not  have  been  followed  by  such 
grave  consequences  as  in  the  case  in  question,  and  were 
therefore  passed  by  without  special  notice.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  the  history  of  the  Exilarchs  and  the  Geonim  shows 
sufficiently  that  from  the  very  beginning  to  the  very  end 
of  their  dual  existence  conflicting  ideas  and  interests  were 
at  play,  which  filled  both  parties  with  mutual  distrust  and 
suspicion  and  often  moved  them  to  acts  of  open  warfare. 
If  we  bear  these  facts  in  mind,  the  bitterness  with  which  the 
war  was  finally  waged  between  those  whom  we  may  call 

*"  Sherira,  p.  40.  Various  attempts  have  been  made  at  explaining 
and  reconciling  the  widely  divergent  reports  on  this  dispute  by  the 
two  authors,  Nathan  and  Sherira;  see  the  discussion  of  the  subject 
in  Graetz'  Geschichte,  V,  N'ote  12,  no.  7,  and  more  recently  Ginzberg, 
Geonica,  I,  55-66;  comp.  Marx,  ZfhB.,  XIII  (1909),  pp.  169  f . ; 
Poznanski,  JQR.,  1913,  pp.  401  f.  This  much  disputed  problem 
does  not  concern  us  here.  To  my  mind  a  reconciliation  between  the 
two  contradicting  sources  is  not  possible,  and  credence  should  be 
given  to  Nathan  as  against  Sherira.  Nathan  writes  like  an  historian 
describing  events  with  much  detail.  His  account  is  thus  supported 
by  internal  evidence.  Sherira,  on  the  other  hand,  chronicles  names 
and  dry  facts,  for  which  he  is  often  the  only  source,  thus  escaping 
our  further  control.  Finally,  Nathan  is  eye-witness  of  most  of  the 
events  he  relates,  Sherira  relies  on  other  chroniclers  or  tradition. 
In  the  subsequent  pages  we  therefore  follow  Nathan's  account. 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  GAONATE        105 

the  last  Elxilarch  on  the  one  side  and  the  last  Gaon  of  Sura  ^^^ 
on  the  other,  will  appear  almost  as  the  natural  outcome  of  an 
age-old  feud  between  two  families  struggling  for  supremacy. 
In  this  case  particularly,  however,  personal  differences 
seem  to  have  given  the  first  impetus  to  the  opening  of 
hostilities. 

Before  discussing  this  matter,  however,  we  must  consider 
the  conditions  that  prevailed  in  the  Sura  academy  shortly 
before  the  election  of  Saadia  to  the  Gaonate  and  the  imme- 
diate causes  that  led  to  that  election. 

In  the  Hfe  of  an  institution  as  in  the  life  of  an  individual, 
there  is  a  period  of  growth  and  development,  a  period  of 
persistent  strength  and  vigor,  and  naturally  also  the  period 
of  gradual  falling  off  and  final  dissolution.  The  Geonic  insti- 
tution at  Sura,  not  to  speak  of  its  sister  at  Pumbedita,  which 
had  a  somewhat  diff'erent  career,  manifested  in  a  marked 
degree  during  the  long  stretch  of  its  existence,  all  these 
signs  of  growth,  vigor  and  decline.  At  the  time  with  which 
we  are  here  concerned,  toward  the  end  of  the  ninth  century, 
it  had  long  passed  the  culminating  point  of  its  vitality  and 
was  rapidly  nearing  its  end.  It  had  spent  its  vital  energy  and 
was  about  to  die  of  exhaustion.  It  ceased  to  produce  able 
men  who  could  take  charge  of  its  affairs  and  keep  it  alive. 
The  historian  is  wont  to  look  for  more  immediate  and  definite 
causes  to  account  for  the  decay  of  institutions,  as  a 
physician  seeks  for  some  special  disease  as  the  particular 
cause  of  death,  although  age  and  general  decrepitude 
might  be  sufficient  explanation.  In  the  case  of  the  Sura 
Gaonate  it  is  not  hard  to  find  external  causes  to  account 
for  its  decline.  Sherira  (p.  39)  informs  us  that  the  Gaon  R. 
Malka  (about  887)  died  after  an  incumbency  of  only  one 
month,  and  that  during  a  period  of  three  months  at  about 
the  same  time,  an  unusual  mortality  prevailed,  carrying  off 

*"  About  fifty  years  later,  it  is  true,  the  Suran  academy  was  reopened 
under  the  headship  of  Samuel  b.  Hophni  (see  below,  note  281).  His 
Gaonate  however,  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  detached  relic  of  the  past 
rather  than  a  direct  continuation  thereof.  The  attempts  to  revive 
the  Exilarchate  were  still  less  successful ;  see  below,  note  283. 


io6  SAADIA  GAON 

most  of  the  older  scholars.  No  doubt  their  death  was  due  to 
some  epidemic  disease.  In  the  years  that  followed  things 
went  from  bad  to  worse.  The  Geonim  that  succeeded  one 
another  for  the  next  three  decades,  to  judge  from  the  little 
we  know  about  them,  were  quite  insignificant  men.  When 
the  Gaon  Shalom  b.  Mishael  died  (911),  Sherira  says  "  Con- 
ditions at  Sura  became  extremely  bad,  and  there  were  no 
scholars  left."  A  certain  R.  Jacob  b.  Natronai  was  appointed 
to  succeed  Shalom,  and  when  he  too  passed  away,  after  an  in- 
cumbency of  thirteen  years,  the  Exilarch  David  b.  Zakkai,  in 
order  not  to  leave  the  chair  vacant,  saw  himself  compelled 
to  "  ordain  "  a  certain  Yom  Tob  Kahana,  "  although  he  was  a 
weaver  by  trade.''  He  occupied  the  chair  for  four 
years  (924-928).  Upon  his  death  it  was  first  contemplated 
to  abolish  the  Gaonate  of  Sura  altogether  and  to  transplant 
the  resident  members  to  Pumbedita.  After  some  delibera- 
tion, it  was  agreed  to  retain  the  Gaonate  of  Sura,  at  least 
nominally,  by  the  appointment  of  a  titular  Gaon,  who  was  to 
have  his  seat  in  Pumbedita.  The  choice  fell  upon  an  'Alluf 
of  the  Pumbedita  academy  named  Nathan,  an  uncle  of  the 
Gaon  Sherira.  But  the  Gaon-elect  died  before  he  had  a 
chance  to  assume  his  dignity.  His  death  seems  to  have  been 
taken  as  a  sign  of  Providential  disapproval  of  the  intention 
to  abolish  the  old  academy  of  Sura.  The  plan  was  given  up, 
although   no   acceptable  candidate  was  at   hand  to   fill   the 

226 

vacancy. 

This  was  in  brief  the  situation  at  Sura  in  the  year  928. 
It  represents  the  nadir  of  a  long  downward  movement,  which 
in  the  last  few  decades  had  been  hastened  considerably  by 
the  newly  strengthened  position  of  the  Pumbedita  academy. 
In  the  measure  in  which  Sura  lost  in  power  and  prestige, 
the  Pumbedita  institution,  by  virtue  of  its  more  prominent 
Geonim,  gained  in  ascendency,  attracting  a  larger  number 
of  disciples.  In  926  the  able  and  energetic  Gaon  Kohen 
Zedek  even  succeeded  in  diverting  a  part  of  the  income  of 

***  Sherira,  p.  39;  comp.  Graetz  (English),  III,  192. 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  GAONATE        107 

the  academy  of  Sura  to  the  treasury  of  the  college  of  Pum- 
bedita,  thus  putting  an  end  also  to  the  financial  supremacy 
of  Sura."^ 

These  adverse  conditions  did  not  discourage  the  Exilarch 
David  b.  Zakkai  from  trying  to  invest  some  scholar  with  the 
honor  of  the  Sura  Gaonate.  His  first  thought  was  to  offer 
the  position  either  to  Saadia,  or  to  one  Zemah  b.  Shahin,  a 
man  of  noble  parentage  and  of  some  learning.  It  seems, 
however,  that  neither  of  the  two  was  entirely  satisfactory 
to  him.  Saadia,  although  for  some  years  an  active  member 
of  the  academy,  was  a  foreigner  by  birth.  Theretofore  the 
Geonic  dignity  had  been  hereditary  in  a  few  families,  some 
of  whom  even  claimed  Davidic  descent.''^  To  judge  from 
several  instances  recorded  in  the  sources,  they  were  all  in- 
terrelated, being  in  this  respect,  too,  an  exact  parallel  to  the 
Exilarchs,  with  whom  they  were  also  often  linked  by  inter- 
marriag'e."'  Hence  the  appointment  of  Saadia  involved  the 
breaking  of  all  precedents.  David  b.  Zakkai  seems  to  have 
entertained  a  natural  reluctance  to  go  to  this  extreme.^'" 
But  the  other  candidate,  probably  of  Geonic  origin,  to  which 
the  phrase  ''  noble  parentage  "  seems  to  allude,  did  not  pos- 
sess the  necessary  qualities  for  the  presidency  of  the  academy. 

^"  Neubauer,  MJC,  II,  78;  Graetz,  /.  c,  pp.  183  f.  There  are  some 
doubts  as  to  the  authorship  of  the  text  preceding  the  report  of 
Nathan  ha-Babli,  for  which  see  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  34  ff. ;  comp. 
Marx's  review  of  Ginzberg's  work  in  ZfhB.,  XIII,  169,  where  this 
point  is  also  touched  upon. 

^"*  Sherira,  p.  Z2,  points  out  with  pride  that  he  was  a  descendant  of 
an  ancient  Exilarchal  family,  which  traced  its  pedigree  to  the  house 
of  David;  comp.  Abraham  b.  David,  n^SPH  "ITD  (Neubauer,  MJC, 
I,  66)  ;   Ginzberg,  /.  c,  pp.  9  f . ;  above,  notes   18,   150. 

^^®  Sherira,  p.  35,  tells  of  the  Gaon  Natronai  I  (719),  that  he  was 
related  to  the  Exilarchal  house ;  comp.  Ginzberg,  /.  c,  p.  16. 

^"  As  we  have  seen  above  (note  18)  Saadia  claimed  noble  ancestry, 
tracing  his  origin  to  the  Mishnaic  teacher  Hanina  b.  Dosa,  or  even  as 
far  back  as  Shelah,  the  son  of  Judah.  He  voiced  this  claim,  however, 
at  a  much  later  period,  when  his  enemies  pointed  with  scorn  to  his 
supposed  lowly  origin  ;  see  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  164,  n.  10. 


io8  SAADIA  GAON 

The  Exilarch  therefore  decided  to  offer  the  position  to  R. 
Nissi  Nahrawani,  a  bhnd  man,  who  was  generally  respected 
on  account  of  his  extreme  piety.  On  a  previous  occasion  he 
had  played  an  important  part  in  bringing  about  a  reconcilia- 
tion between  the  same  David  and  his  opponent,  the  Gaon 
Kohen  Zedek  of  Pumbedita.  Nahrawani,  however,  declined 
the  honor  on  the  ground  of  his  blindness.  Asked  to  make 
some  suggestion  as  to  a  possible  candidate,  he  refused  to 
express  himself.  The  Exilarch  then  soHcited  his  opinion  re- 
garding Saadia  and  Zemah  b.  Shahin.  R.  Nissi  at  once  ad- 
vised the  choice  of  Zemah.  He  expressed  the  greatest  ad- 
miration for  Saadia's  learning  and  character,  but  knowing 
Saadia's  independent  spirit  and  the  dictatorial  disposition  of 
the  Exilarch,  he  anticipated  trouble  between  the  two  men. 
"  It  is  true,"  R.  Nissi  explained,  "  that  Saadia  is  a  great  man, 
of  extraordinary  learning ;  but  he  is  absolutely  fearless,  and 
by  reason  of  his  great  learning  and  wisdom,  eloquence  and 
piety,  he  does  not  consider  anybody  in  the  world."  These 
words  of  praise  and  caution  produced  the  opposite  effect 
from  that  intended,  for  David  now  said :  ''  I  have  decided 
and  will  appoint  Saadia."  To  this  R.  Nissi  replied :  "  Do 
as  you  have  determined,  I  shall  be  the  first  one  to  sit  at 
his  feet  and  hearken  to  his  words."     Thereupon '"  Saadia 

^Nathan,  on  whose  report  the   foregoing  presentation   is  based, 

has  here:  r\i^^^  n^Q^D  ''jQni  P1V  jn!]  ^JDn  nv^  r\n\^  ^r]y^r]^r] 
K11D  n3^t^'^  tj>t<n  nrn^  imj^oi  ^nnnnis.    Neubauer  (p.  80) 

reads  ini:i''nJn,  in  the  plural,  probably  because  of  the  following 
iniJ''D1,  but  as  the  Exilarch  is  not  mentioned  separately,  it  seems  pref- 
erable to  read  liUTUn,  the  singular  form  thus  referring  to  David, 
who  introduced  Saadia  to  the  assembly.  However,  this  is  not  of 
importance.  More  important  are  the  words  \]V^  ^D1^?,  which 
certainly  mean  "  at  once,"  or  "  immediately."  Unless  the  words  were 
overlooked,  or  Nathan  disregarded  as  untrustworthy  on  this  point, 
it  is  hard  to  see  why  all  modern  biographers  of  Saadia,  prior  to  the 
discovery  of  the  Genizah,  should  have  assumed  that  he  was  living  in 
Egypt  at  the  time  of  his  appointment  as  Gaon.  We  need  not  contend 
now  against  this  erroneous  view,  which  originated  with  Abraham  b. 
David.  Nathan's  report  points  to  a  meeting  of  the  Exilarch,  the 
Gaon  Kohen  Zedek,  and  the  leading  members  of  both  academies 
either   in  the  house  of  the  Exilarch,  or   in   the  academy  of    Sura, 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  GAONATE        109 

was  invited  to  appear  before  the  Gaon  Kohen  Zedek  and 
the  other  dignitaries  of  the  Pumbedita  academy,  and  was 
solemnly  installed  as  Gaon  of  Sura.  This  event  took  place 
in  the  month  of  lyyar,  928,  Saadia  being  then  thirty-six  years 
old/" 

Only  too  soon  did  the  blind  man's  apprehension  prove  true. 
At  first  only  slight  friction  occurred,  without  immediately 
serious  consequences/^  But  two  years  after  Saadia's  in- 
stallation a  fierce  struggle  broke  out  between  the  Gaon  and 
the  Exilarch,  which,  in  the  bitterness  manifested  by  both 
parties,  as  well  as  in  its  far-reaching  consequences  for  Baby- 
lonian Jewry,  surpassed  all  similar  quarrels  known  in  the  long 
history  of  the  Geonim. 

The  immediate  cause  of  the  rupture — a  litigation  by  heirs 
to  a  fortune,  which  the  Exilarch  decided  so  as  to  bring  great 
gain  to  himself — was  important  enough  to  explain  Saadia's 
opposition.  Nevertheless,  judging  from  what  we  know 
about  the  administration  of  the  Exilarchs  in  general  and 
that  of  David  b.  Zakkai  in  particular,  we  may  take  it  for 
granted  that  the  incident  in  question  was  not  the  only  one  of 
its  kind  to  come  to  the  notice  of  Saadia.  It  must  have  been 
part  of  an  established  system  of  administrative  abuses  and 
perversions  of  justice,  which  a  man  of  Saadia's  integrity  and 
love  of  right  could  not  possibly  countenance. 

The  special  case  which  the  Gaon  probably  regarded  as  a 
capsheaf  of  iniquity,  is  characteristic  of  the  conditions  pre- 
vailing. The  decision  of  the  Exilarch  in  the  lawsuit  before 
his  court,  would  have  put  one  tenth  of  the  disputed  amount 
into  his  own  coffers.  To  give  legal  authority  to  his  decree 
the  Exilarch  had  to  obtain  the  signatures  of  the  two  Geonim. 

for  which  a  Gaon  was  to  be  chosen.  As  soon  as  the  choice  fell 
upon  Saadia,  he  was  called  in  and  formally  presented  by  the 
Exilarch  to  the  assembled  board  and  the  scholars  of  the  Pumbedita 
academy.  To  the  scholars  of  Sura  he  needed  no  introduction,  as 
he  had  been  a  member  of  that  academy  for  about  six  years  prior 
to  his  appointment. 

*"Sherira,  p.  40,  top  [but  see  Postscript]. 

*^  Comp.  Graetz  (English),  III,  194. 


no  SAADIA  GAON 

He  sent  the  documents  first  to  Saaclia.  The  latter,  upon 
examining  them,  saw  through  the  scheme  and  found  it 
impossible  to  affix  his  signature.  Wishing  to  avoid  un- 
pleasantness, he  advised  the  litigants  to  secure  first  the 
signature  of  the  Gaon  Kohen  Zedek  of  Pumbedita.  He  may 
have  hoped  that  his  senior  would  recognize  the  unfairness  of 
the  decree  and  would  undertake  to  settle  the  matter  in  some 
acceptable  way.  But  Kohen  Zedek  was  not  so  scrupulous 
as  Saadia.  He  signed  the  documents  without  raising  any 
objection,  possibly  without  scrutiny.  When  the  matter  was 
brought  back  to  Saadia,  he  at  first  tried  to  escape  the  difficulty 
by  the  statement  that  his  signature  was  superfluous,  since 
those  of  the  Exilarch  and  of  the  other  Gaon  had  been  affixed. 
The  litigants  realized  that  this  was  only  a  pretext  and  re- 
peatedly adjured  him  to  tell  them  the  real  reason  for  his 
refusal.  The  truth  could  be  hidden  no  longer.  Saadia  had 
to  point  out  and  to  explain  the  points  of  illegality  in  the  Exil- 
archal  decision  which  made  him  withhold  his  assent.  The 
parties  concerned  returned  to  the  Exilarch  and  informed  him 
of  the  situation.  Aroused  by  the  daring  of  the  Gaon,  the 
Exilarch  sent  his  son  Judah  to  Saadia  with  the  command : 
"  Go  and  tell  him  in  my  name  that  he  shall  at  once  endorse 
the  documents."  Judah  carried  the  message,  and  Saadia 
received  it  with  the  words  :  *'  Tell  your  father  that  it  is  writ- 
ten in  the  Torah  (Deuteronomy,  i,  17)  *  Ye  shall  not  respect 
persons  in  judgment.'  "  The  Prince  of  the  Captivity,  infur- 
iated by  the  answer,  forgot  all  etiquette  and  through  his 
son  reiterated  categorically :  "  Sign  and  don't  be  a  fool !  " 
The  son,  who  was  to  deliver  this  order,  thought  it  wiser 
to  suppress  it,  so  as  not  to  widen  the  breach.  Instead  he 
implored  the  Gaon  to  yield,  in  order  to  avoid  a  rupture.  Ijut 
Saadia  was  not  the  man  to  surrender  in  a  question  tliat  in- 
volved a  religious  principle.  David  b.  Zakkai,  incensed  be- 
yond measure,  sent  his  son  again  and  again  to  Saadia  with 
abusive  messages  and  threats,  which  were  turned  by  the 
princely  messenger  into  friendly  appeals  and  expostulations. 
But  all  to  no  avail.  Finally  Judah,  too,  wearied  of  walking 
to  and  fro  with  his  father's  fruitless  orders.    When  his  last 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  GAONATE        in 

effort  at  persuasion  had  failed,  in  a  moment  of  exasperation, 
he  raised  his  hand  against  the  Gaon,  threatening  to  strike  him 
if  he  did  not  sign  immediately.  Hardly  had  the  prince  finished 
speaking,  when  he  was  seized  by  Saadia's  attendants  and 
thrust  from  the  room.  The  doors  were  locked  to  prevent 
his  re-entrance.  Judah  went  home  defeated,  and,  ''  with 
tears  running  from  his  eyes,''  reported  to  his  father  what  had 
happened.  Matters  were  now  beyond  repair.  David  b. 
Zakkai  excommunicated  the  obstinate  scholar  and  declared 
his  office  vacant.  To  the  Gaonate  he  appointed  a  young  and 
insignificant  Rabbi,  one  Joseph  b.  Jacob,  called  also  Bar- 
Satia.''*  Saadia,  not  in  the  least  discouraged,  retaliated  in 
kind,  excommunicating  David  b.  Zakkai  and  declaring  him 
to  be  no  longer  Exilarch.  To  the  vacant  throne  he  appointed 
Josiah  Hasan,  a  brother,  or,  according  to  Sherira,  a  nephew 
of  David  b.  Zakkai.''' 

At  once  two  opposing  factions  were  formed,  the  one 
siding  with  the.  Exilarch,  the  other  with  the  Gaon.  With 
Saadia  were  the  richest  people  of  Babylonia,  the  scholars 
of  the  academies,^'®  and  all  the  prominent  men  in  the  com- 
munity of  Bagdad,  among  them  the  wealthy  and  highly  re- 
spected Natira  family.'^""    David  b.  Zakkai,  on  the  other  hand, 

^*  This  Joseph  seems  to  have  been  a  member  of  a  Gaonic  family, 
for  he  is  described  as  D''J1H5  |1  jlJ^.'';  see  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V, 
227,  n.  6,  229,  n.  9,  and  p.  233,  line  10. 

^^^The  above  presentation  is  a  free  reproduction  of  Nathan's 
Report,  p.  81. 

'''Nathan,  p.  80,  line  10  from  below,  says  nin^VI  n^CfTl,  in  the 
plural,  v^^hich  suggests  that  even  some  of  the  scholars  of  the 
Pumbedita  academy,  whose  Gaon  sided  with  the  Exilarch,  sympa- 
thized with  Saadia.     See,  however,  below,  note  239. 

^"  Nothing  whatever  was  known  about  this  family  prior  to  1903, 
when  a  highly  interesting  manuscript  from  the  Genizah,  containing 
a  sort  of  a  family  history  of  the  house  Natira,  was  published  in 
Arabic,  by  Harkavy,  in  Berliner's  Festschrift,  pp.  34-43.  The  writer, 
a  contemporary  of  Saadia,  tells  of  a  plot  by  a  high  official  of  the 
Caliph  Al-Mu'tadid  (892-902)  to  exterminate  the  Jews,  which  was 
frustrated  by  a  dream  of  the  Caliph  that  led  to  the  elevation  of 
Natira.  The  latter,  immensely  wealthy  and  charitable,  remained  in 
his  high  position  at  the  court  of  the  Caliphs  until  his  death   (916), 


112  SAADIA  GAON 

was  supported  by  his  courtiers,  as  also  by  the  Gaon  Kohen 
Zedek,  whose  eagerness  for  the  downfall  of  Saadia  and  the 
Sura  academy  appears  to  have  been  prompted  by  the  desire 
that  his  own  college  might  become  the  sole  authority  of  Baby- 
lonian Jewry.  He  had,  indeed,  already  disgraced  his  name 
and  office  by  signing,  or  perhaps  even  assisting  in  the  com- 
position of  the  Exilarchal  "  Letter  of  Excommunication  '"'^ 
against  Saadia.  In  the  baseness  of  its  tone  and  the  vileness 
of  its  accusations  this  document  has  its  equal  only  in  the 
diatribe  of  Sarjadah  mentioned  below.""*^  Prominent  mem- 
bers of  the  Pumbedita  academy  ^'  followed  their  chief's  ex- 
ample, either  because  they  had  to  do  his  bidding,  or  because 
they  shared  his  feeling. 

when  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Sahl,  who,  like  another  son, 
Isaac,  followed  the  example  of  his  noble  father,  caring  lavishly  for 
the  poor  and  the  needy,  Jews  and  Muhammedans  alike.  It  is  these 
two  brothers  to  whom  Nathan  ha-Babli  refers  as  the  i<*n^DJ  '•Jl 
(p.  80,  line  6  from  below).  The  father  he  had  mentioned  twice 
before  (pp.  78,  line  4  from  below;  79,  line  11;  comp.  p.  83,  line  8). 
Harkavy,  /.  c,  p.  34,  remarks  that  no  mention  of  Natira  is  made  any- 
where else  in  Jewish  literature,  but  a  few  years  later  the  "  Sons  of 
Natira"  appeared  again  in  a  fragmentary  letter  in  Ginzberg's 
Geonica,  II,  87;  comp.  I.  Friedlaender,  JQR.,  XVII,  753,  who 
suggests  that  the  fragment  on  the  Natira  family  published  by 
Harkavy  and  the  Report  of  Nathan  ha-Babli  are  portions  of  one  and 
the  same  book  written  by  Nathan  under  the  title  nxi:il  1i<3Di<, 
"  The  History  of  Bagdad,"  which  is  not  improbable ;  comp.  p.  293. 

^  Published  first  by  Geiger,  Judische  Zeitschrift,  X,  172  ff.,  then 
by  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  231-234.  This  was  not  the  only  missile 
David  and  Kohen  Zedek  directed  against  Saadia,  as  the  Karaite 
epitomizer  mentions  there  (p.  231,  lines  21-23)  other,  more  extensive, 
writings  by  the  same  authors. 

'^^  See  below,  note  246a. 

^  Of  these  only  one  is  known  with  some  degree  of  certainty.  In 
his  "'1^:!n  1DD  (Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  167,  line  15)  Saadia  mentions 
among  his  enemies  one  Hananiah,  whose  name  he  changes  disparag- 
ingly into  'Ananiahrrzthe  lamentable  one.  As  Harkavy,  /.  c,  p.  144, 
properly  remarks,  Saadia  has  reference  to  Sherira's  father,  Hananiah 
b.  Judah,  who  later  became  Gaon  of  Pumbedita  (938-43)  ;  comp. 
above,  note  236,  and  below,  p.  126. 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  GAONATE        113 

The  most  violent  and  most  influential  opponent  of  Saadia 
was  one  Aaron  b.  Joseph  Ibn  Sarjadah  ''^  of  Bagdad,  a  mer- 
chant of  great  wealth  and  at  the  same  time  a  scholar  and 
writer  of  no  small  accomplishments,  who  at  a  later  period  suc- 
ceeded in  usurping  the  Gaonate  of  Pumbedita.  This  man 
hardly  deserves  the  respect  and  consideration  usually  ac- 
corded to  him  by  modern  authors.  He  may  have  been  a 
great  scholar,  as  is  attested  by  contemporary  sources,'"^  and 
he  may  also  have  possessed  other  good  qualities — liberality, 
devotion  to  communal  interests,  and  the  like.  But  from  all 
that  is  related  of  him  in  the  same  sources,  he  was  also  a 
man  of  violent,  quarrelsome,  and  vindictive  temper,  and 
of  an  absolutely  tyrannical  bent  of  mind.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  he  had  himself  aspired  to  the  Gaonate  of  Sura'"" 
prior  to  the  appointment  of  Saadia,  but  his  candidacy,  it 

"°  His  first  name  in  Arabic  was  Halaf  (^^D),  for  which  Nathan 
regularly  substitutes  the  Biblical  Kaleb  (1^3),  while  Sherira, 
Abraham  b.  David,  and  others  have  Aaron.  Saadia  (Harkavy, 
Zikron,  V,  167,  line  14;  REJ.,  LXVIII,  9,  top),  playing  on  the  name 
Kaleb,  calls  him  S^IS,  The  meaning  of  the  surname  is  unknown  and 
even  the  writing  uncertain.  Steinschneider,  Arabische  Literatur, 
§  34,  adopts  nli^JID,  which  I  follow  in  the  transliteration;  comp. 
Steinschneider,  JQR.,  XI,  126,  no.  282 ;  Harkavy's  note  in  the  Hebrew 
translation  of  Graetz's  Geschichte  der  Juden,  vol.  HI,  p.  291 ;  Graetz, 
Geschichte,  V,  4th  edition,  p.  293,  n.  4. 

^^  See  Steinschneider,  Arab.  Literatur,  §  34.  In  a  marginal  note  of 
a  MS.  of  Maimonides's  Guide  (see  below,  pp.  133  f.),  probably  written 
by  Maimonides  himself,  Sarjadah  is  mentioned  among  the  learned 
men  who  wrote  against  the  doctrine  of  the  eternity  of  matter.  A 
passage  from  his  Arabic  commentary  on  the  Pentateuch,  section 
n^inn  DXTI,  is  quoted  by  Joseph  b.  Judah,  probably  the  pupil  of 
Maimonides,  known  as  Ibn  Aknin  (comp.  Poznanski,  JQR.,  XVII, 
168  f.),  in  a  fragment  of  a  work  on  calendar,  published  by  Hirschfeld, 
JQR.,  XVI,  690-694.  Other  passages  from  the  same  commentary 
were  published  (from  a  MS.  v/ork  of  Tanhum  Jerushalmi,  13th 
century)  by  Harkavy,  in  his  n^^^^  U^  D^tJ^IH,  X  (Warsaw,  1896, 
reprint  from  the  Hebrew  edition  of  Graetz's  History,  V),  2^. 
Sarjadah  is  also  the  author  of  a  commentary  on  the  tractate  Yebamot, 
quoted  by  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  II,  67. 

^*^  Comp.  Geiger,  Jiidischs  Zeitschrift,  X,  172. 


114  SAADIA  GAON 

appears,  was  not  even  considered."'^  He  is  reported  to  have 
been  a  good  dialectician.  On  any  question  submitted  to  him 
he  was  able  to  give  more  than  one  satisfactory  answer. 
Nevertheless  Saadia's  extraordinary  learning  and  brilliancy 
put  him  lamentably  into  the  shade.'*'  Morbidly  vainglorious 
and  ambitious,  he  bore  a  grudge  against  the  generally 
admired  scholar,  w^hich  may  have  been  enhanced  by  the  lat- 
ter's  independent  spirit  and  perhaps  open  disregard  for  his 
person.  Thus,  when  the  quarrel  broke  out  between  Saadia 
and  David  b.  Zakkai  he  thought  his  opportunity  had  come 
to  get  even  with  his  stronger  rival,  and  he  at  once  joined 
hands  with  the  Exilarch. 

The  two  parties  arrayed  themselves  for  the  combat.  Their 
first  weapons,  as  we  have  seen,  were  mutual  excommuni- 
cations and  depositions,  and  the  appointment  of  substitutes 
to  fill  the  two  imaginary  vacancies.  That  pens  on  both  sides 
were  kept  busy  writing  recriminatory  proclamations  and 
circular  letters  goes  without  saying.^'"  The  battle  of  procla- 
mations in  the  Ben  Meir  controversy  was  but  an  insignificant 
skirmish  compared  with  the  present  struggle.  A  Karaite 
of  the  time,  who,  like  all  of  his  sect  naturally  rejoiced  in  the 
trouble  of  their  lifelong  opponent,  has  done  history  the 
service  of  preserving  extracts  from  a  scandalous  diatribe  by 
Aaron  Sarjadah,'**  a  sad  example  of  the  demoralized  and 
demoralizing  spirit  that  invaded  the  ranks  of  Saadia's  op- 
ponents. The  document  is  full  of  the  coarsest  invectives, 
and  some  of  its  accusations,  repeated  again  and  again,  are 
so  vile  and  impudent  that  one  shrinks  from  reproducing 
them.^"^ 

'*^  As    noted    before,    the    Exilarch    considered    only    Nahrawani, 
Zemah,  and  Saadia. 
'  ="  Nathan,  p.  80. 

^*^  See  above,  note  238. 

""Published  by  Geiger,  Jiidische  Zeitschrift,  X,  173-178;  Harkavy, 
Zikron,  V,  225  fif. 

^*  "  In  virulence  and  obscenity  it  exceeds  anything  of  the  sort  I 
have  ever  seen — the  manifesto  of  the  Spaniards  at  the  time  of  the 
Armada  scarcely  comes  near  it"  (D.  S.  Margoliouth,  JQR.,  XII, 
506). 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  G  AON  ATE        115 

We  may  take  it  for  granted  that  in  turn  Saadia  and  his 
adherents  did  not  spare  their  antagonists.  They  probably 
issued  counterattacks  no  whit  gentler,  which  subsequent 
generations  have  wisely  allowed  to  fall  into  oblivion.  But 
it  is  safe  to  assume  that  nothing  similar  to  the  defamatory 
libel  of  Sarjadah  ever  issued  from  the  pen  of  Saadia. 
We  have  one  example  of  the  manner  in  which  Saadia 
defended  himself  during  this  quarrel,  which  fully  bears 
out  our  assumption.  In  the  Introduction  to  one  of  his 
works,  called  Sefer  ha-Galul  (The  Open  Book''')  he  repHes 
to  some  of  the  charges  brought  against  him  by  his  enemies, 
such  as  David  b.  Zakkai,  Aaron  Sarjadah,  and  others, 
whom  he  mentions  by  name.  Aside  from  general  derogatory 
epithets,  like  *'  wicked ''  and  "  ignorant,"  and  rather  childish 
plays  "*'  on  the  names  of  his  opponents,  which  he  tries  to  jus- 
tify by  citing  similar  literary  diversions  in  the  Bible,  there  is 
not  one  word  of  objectionable  or  abusive  character.  If  we 
reflect  that  the  work  in  question  was  written  at  a  time  when 
Saadia,  having  met  with  crushing  defeat  at  the  hands  of  his 
enemies,  was  compelled  to  live  in  retirement  and  seclu- 
sion, while  the  Exilarch's  faction  were  rejoicing  over  his 
downfall,  we  can  easily  draw  conclusions  as  to  the  difference 
in  character  and  moral  stamina  between  the  two  opposing 
parties."^^ 

Violent  and  determined  as  the  literary  feud  appears  to 
have  been,  it  did  not  produce  the  results  desired  by  either 
side.  Both  Saadia  and  David  b.  Zakkai  remained  in  their 
respective  offices,  supported  and  upheld  by  prominent  and 
influential  friends.  In  the  course  of  time  the  situation  be- 
came untenable,  as  the  adherents  of  both  sides  often  resorted 

^^  This  meaning  of  the  title  as  well  as  the  genuineness  of  the  book 
and  many  other  points  relating  thereto  have  been  made  the  subject 
of  long  controversies ;  see  for  all  details  the  Bibliography,  below, 
section  VI,  pp.  387-394. 

^*  See  notes  239-240  and  the  references  there  given;  MargoIIouth, 
JQR.,  XII,  527. 

^®For  this  point  see  the  correct  remarks  of  Harkavy  (against 
Margoliouth),  JQR.,  XII,  533,  552  f. 


ii6  SAADIA  GAON 

to  acts  of  violence.'"'  Appeals  were  made  to  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Caliph.  According  to  the  Exilarch's  "  Letter 
of  Excommunication  "  it  was  Saadia  who  first  invoked  the 
assistance  of  the  government,  and  secured  the  imprison- 
ment of  some  of  his  assailants."""^  If  this  was  the  case, 
he  is  not  to  be  blamed,  for  Aaron  Sarjadah,  with  characteristic 
brazenness,  tells  boastfully  of  severe  blows  and  beatings 
administered  to  the  Gaon  by  his  opponents.""'  However  that 
may  have  been,  the  reigning  Caliph  Al-Muktadir,  a  fair- 
minded  and  just  ruler,  did  not  show  himself  amenable  to  the 
wishes  of  the  Exilarch  and  Sarjadah,  who  tried  to  efifect 
Saadia's  forcible  deposition  and  perhaps  banishment.  Sar- 
jadah offered  ten  thousand  ducats'"'  to  the  treasury  of  the 
Caliph   for  a   decree   favoring  the   Exilarch.     The   Caliph 

^^'^  Riots,  street-fighting,  interference  of  the  government,  and 
imprisonment  of  the  rioters  are  repeatedly  mentioned  in  Sarjada's 
Chronique  scandalense  and  in  the  Exilarchal  Letter  of  Excommuni- 
cation; see  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  227,  lines  4-5;  230,  lines  14-18;  232, 
bottom.  The  contemporary  Arabic  historian  al-Mas'iidi  (quoted 
above,  note  20)  likewise  reports  riots. 

^^  Harkavy,  /.  c,  p.  232,  bottom.  This  seemingly  contradicts  the 
Report  of  Nathan  (above,  p.  m)  ;  for  according  to  that  Report 
Saadia  was  excommunicated  immediately  after  his  refusal  to  sign 
the  Exilarchal  decree,  and  hence,  prior  to  that  excommunication, 
could  have  no  time,  and  probably  no  cause,  for  appealing  to  the 
government  and  securing  anybody's  imprisonment.  However,  Nathan 
does  not  mention  any  formal  Letter  of  Excommunication  (DIH  ^DD) 
issued  on  the  spot  by  the  Exilarch.  He  merely  states  that  the  latter 
"  excommunicated  R.  Saadia  "  (D''*inn),  which  no  doubt  refers  to  the 
Exilarch's  general  pronouncement  against  Saadia  prior  to  the  issuance 
of  the  official  Letter  of  Excommunication.  During  the  intervening 
time  both  parties  may  have  resorted  to  acts  of  violence.  Moreover, 
the  Karaite  who  reproduced  the  Letter  of  Excommunication,  being 
inimical  to  Saadia,  may  have  tampered  with  the  text  of  the  document, 
adding  matter  that  would  prejudice  the  reader  against  the  Gaon; 
Harkavy,  /.  c,  pp.  222  f. 

^^  Harkavy,  /.  c,  p.  230,  lines  14  ff.  Saadia  himself  tells  of  "  at- 
tempted assassinations  "  by  his  enemies  (Harkavy,  /.  c,  p.  155,  line  11) 
and  the  same  is  related  by  Abraham  b.  David,  Neubauer,  I,  65  ;  comp. 
Maker,  JOR.,  N.  S.,  Ill  (1912-1913),  p.  498,  line  5. 

""'  So  Graetz  (English),  HI,  196,  top;  Nathan,  p.  80,  has  TIT  n^«  'D. 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  GAONATE        117 

insisted  that  both  sides  be  heard.  He  ordered  a  formal 
trial  before  the  judges  of  his  court  under  the  presidency 
of  the  grand-vizir  'All  b.  'Isa.  For  some  reason  the  dispute 
was  not  settled  one  way  or  the  other/"  and  Saadia  main- 
tained his  authority  as  Gaon  for  about  three  years,  in  spite 
of  all  opposition  and  the  rivalry  of  the  counter-Gaon  Joseph 
b.  Jacob. 

In  October,  932,  the  Caliph  Al-Muktadir  was  killed  in  a 
rebellion,  and  Al-Kahir,  an  unprincipled  and  dissolute  per- 
son, who  besides  was  so  poor  that  he  had  to  borrow  clothes 
for  the  ceremony  of  installation,^""  became  his  successor. 
The  Exilarch  and  Sarjadah  saw  the  time  opportune,  and 
again  resorted  to  bribery.  This  time  they  met  with  success. 
Al-Kahir  did  not  care  a  rap  which  of  the  two  parties  was 
right  or  wrong,  only  which  gave  the  larger  sum  of  money. 
Aside  from  the  contributions  of  Sarjadah  and  probably  of 
other  individuals,  the  large  sums  which  David  b.  Zakkai, 
with  the  aid  of  the  Caliph's  officials,  is  reported  to  have 
extorted  from  various  communities,  were  no  doubt,  to  serve 
this  noxious  purpose.'''^  The  Exilarch  and  his  followers 
thus  came  out  victorious.  Saadia  was  definitely  deposed, 
probably  not  long  after  Al-Kahir's  succession  to  the  throne. 

^  Mas'udi,  /.  c.  (see  above,  notes  20,  250),  only  says  that  the  parties 
were  advised  to  settle  their  differences  before  the  court,  but  does  not 
state  whether  a  settlement  was  reached  or  not.  Instead  he  proceeds 
with  the  statement  that  Saadia  maintained  his  authority  over  many  of 
the  Jews,  and  that  they  paid  allegiance  to  him.  It  therefore  appears 
that  the  decision  of  the  court,  if  one  was  reached,  Vv^as  to  the  effect 
that  each  party  should  have  the  right  to  adhere  to  its  respective 
chief  without  interference  by  the  other.  The  passage  in  Mas'udi  was 
misinterpreted  by  Graetz,  Geschichte,  V,  Note  20,  no.  9,  and  Engel- 
kemper,  De  Saadiae  Gaonis  Vita,  p.  12,  n.  3. 

^""Weil,  Geschichte  der  Chalifen,  II,  644;  comp.  ibidem,  pp.  649, 
654. 

^®  Nathan,  p.  86.  He  adds  that  in  the  face  of  this  injustice  none 
of  the  heads  of  the  two  academies  felt  it  his  duty  to  object  to  the 
procedure.  This  censure  of  the  Geonim  certainly  does  not  include 
Saadia,  nor  does  it  refer  to  Saadia's  predecessor,  but  to  Joseph  b, 
Jacob  and  Kohen  Zedek;  comp.  Graetz  (English),  III,  194. 


iicS  S  A  AD  I A  GAON 

That  his  enemies  tried  to  secure  his  banishment,  may  be  as- 
sumed. It  is  certain  that  they  succeeded  only  in  driving 
him  from  his  office  in  Sura,  and  that  for  a  time  he  Hved  as  a 
private  scholar  in  Bagdad."'"  Josiah-Hasan,  the  brother  of 
David  b.  Zakkai,  whom  Saadia  had  appointed  counter- 
Exilarch,  was  exiled  to  Horasan,"^^  where  he  remained  until 
his  death.  As  late  as  the  fourteenth  century,  several  families 
claiming  Exilarchic  descent  trace  their  pedigree  to  this 
Josiah."^ 

Al-Kahir's  reign  lasted  about  a  year  and  a  half  (Novem- 
ber I,  932-April  23,  934).""'  He  was  succeeded  by  the 
Caliph  Al-Radi  (934-940).'*'  During  the  reign  of  the  for- 
mer and  partly  also  under  the  administration  of  the  latter, 
who,  although  a  pious  and  just  ruler,  need  not  have  been 
especially  interested  in  the  affairs  of  the  Gaonate,  Saadia  was 
compelled  to  live  in  retirement.  He  had  fought  corruption 
within  the  ranks  of  his  own  people,  but  he  could  not  fight 
a  vicious  Caliph  and  corrupt  vizirs.  However,  though  out- 
wardly defeated,  he  was  not  broken  in  spirit.  Saadia  was 
not  the  man  to  stand  or  to  fall  with  an  office.  He  did  not 
derive  his  greatness  and  worth  from  the  Gaonate.  On  the 
contrary,  it  was  the  Gaonate  that  had  received  a  further 
grant  of  life  by  being  vested  in  a  Saadia.  Despite  all  the 
tribulations  and  anguish  the  prolonged  struggle  and  its  out- 
come must  have  caused  him,  he  realized  that  his  career  as  a 
teacher  and  uplifter  of  his  people  was  not  over,  and  he  re- 
solved to  carry  on  with  even  more  vigor  and  energy  the  task 

^''  See  Graetz,  Geschichte,  V,  Note  20,  no.  10.  To  the  proofs 
adduced  by  Graetz  may  be  added  that  from  Nathan's  description  of 
Saadia's  reconciliation  with  the  Exilarch  it  also  becomes  obvious 
that  prior  to  that  reconciliation  Saadia  was  living  in  Bagdad.  Nathan 
relates  that  while  the  Exilarch  was  waiting  in  Bishr's  house  the 
latter  betook  himself  to  Saadia  and  brought  him  over  to  his  house 
to  meet  the  Exilarch.    This  proves  that  Saadia  was  within  reach. 

^^  Sherira,  p.  40;  comp.  Harkavy  in  Frankel-Graetz's  Monatsschrift, 
1882,  p.  167. 

"'^  Comp.  Lazarus,  p.  179,  no.  xiv. 

^"Weil,  Geschichte  der  Chalifen,  pp.  644,  650. 

""^  Ibidem,  pp.  650,  677. 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  G  AON  ATE        119 

to  which  he  had  set  himself.  It  was  during  these  years  of 
retirement  and  sohtude,  that  he  wrote  his  best  and  most 
original  work,  the  ''  Book  of  Philosophic  Doctrines  and  Re- 
ligious Beliefs,"  which  gave  the  world  the  first  not  alone, 
but  a  complete,  philosophic  system  of  the  Jewish  religion. 
Its  contents  and  merits  are  discussed  in  a  later  chapter.  But 
it  may  here  be  said  in  passing  that  even  had  Saadia  written 
nothing  else,  this  book  would  have  been  sufficient  to  entitle 
him  to  the  first  place  among  the  great  m.inds  of  mediaeval 
Jewry.  The  freshness  and  originality  with  which  it  is  writ- 
ten, prove  that  it  was  not  the  work  of  a  recluse  brooding  in 
despair  over  a  shattered  career  and  seeking  to  drown  his  grief 
in  literary  occupation,  but  that  of  a  great  and  highsouled 
thinker  who,  having  gone  through  a  trying  experience,  and 
having  realized  that  from  the  very  beginning  it  was  a  lost 
cause,  dismisses  the  wdiole  matter  from  his  mind,  and  with 
serene  superiority  turns  his  attention  to  what  was  the  real 
aim  of  his  life,  the  elaboration  of  a  system  of  Jewish  thought. 
It  is  characteristic  of  Saadia's  mental  attitude  while  writing 
this  work  that  he  nowhere  so  much  as  alludes  either  to  his 
former  Gaonate  or  to  any  of  its  phases,  although  the  long 
Introduction,  in  which  he  speaks  of  himself  and  his  motives 
in  the  composition  of  the  work,  might  have  given  him  the 
opportunity  to  do  so.'"' 

In  another  work,  it  is  true,  in  the  so-called  "  Open  Book,'' 
written  a  little  later,"*""  he  takes  occasion  to  describe  his  expe- 
riences in  the  Gaonate  and  the  trials  he  had  passed  through. 
But  even  there,  at  least  so  far  as  can  be  seen  from  the  ex- 
tant portion,  he  does  not  speak  as  one  bewailing  his  lot  and 
reproaching  his  enemies,  but  as  a  warrior  who  has  fought  a 
battle  for  God  and  religion  and  has  come  out  victorious. 

^^  Fiirst  in  his  German  translation  of  the  work  (Leipzig,  1845), 
pp.  19  f.,  notes,  suggests,  however,  that  the  words  DPIO  1^  ^'^^  ""Dl 
M31  pno  nnx  {Emundt,  ed.  Slucki,  p.  6)  allude  to  David  b. 
Zakkai  and  other  enemies  of  Saadia,  which  is  not  improbable;  comp. 
below,  note  496. 

^''^  See  above,  notes  247-249.    . 


120  SAADIA  GAON 

He  states  explicitly  that  his  purpose  in  relating  the  cir- 
cumstances and  "  how  he  had  prayed  unto  God  for  deliv- 
erance/' was  merely  that  he  might  serve  as  an  example  to 
others ;  that  "  if  they  had  to  endure  similar  insults  and 
injuries  at  the  hands  of  the  wicked,  they  might  remain  firm 
and  pray  to  God  rather  than  lose  heart  and  surrender/'  '^ 
As  that  part  of  the  work  which  contained  Saadia's  detailed 
account  of  the  events  is  lost,  it  is  impossible  to  say  what  he 
meant  by  his  "  deliverance."  Even  if  it  was  merely  a  refer- 
ence to  his  steadfastness  and  faith  in  God  in  times  of  trouble 
and  distress,  it  is  obvious  from  the  marvelous  mental  vigor 
and  activity  manifested  in  the  works  he  wrote  during  this 
period,  that  his  reverses  did  not  dishearten  him  or  weaken 
his  lifelong  efforts  to  further  the  cause  of  Judaism  and  Jew- 
ish thought.  Moreover,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  during  the 
time  of  Saadia's  retirement  he  was  supported  morally  and, 
if  need  was,  also  materially ,^^°  by  devoted  adherents,  thus 
making  it  possible  for  him  to  give  himself  to  his  studies. 
The  intrigues  of  Aaron  Sarjadah  and  the  extortion  of  money 
from  the  communities  by  the  Exilarch,  whereby  Saadia's 
removal  was  effected,  must  have  filled  all  right-thinking 
people  with  horror  and  contempt  for  the  victors  and  with 
increased  love  and  reverence  for  the  victim.  The  numerous 
admirers  of  the  deposed  Gaon  in  and  outside  of  Bagdad  no 
doubt  continued  to  recognize  him  as  their  teacher  and  spirit- 

""'See  Maker,  JOR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  Ill   (1912-1913),  p.  492. 

^' There  is  no  sufficient  ground  for  the  assumption  that  Saadia 
ever  was  in  need  of  pecuniary  support.  We  may  assume,  with  more 
probability,  that  he  was  a  man  of  independent  means.  It  is  even 
questionable  whether  he  received  a  salary,  while  occupying  the 
Gaonate.  Nathan  ha-Babli  only  mentions  that  Joseph  b.  Jacob  was 
the  recipient  of  a  fixed  salary.  David  b.  Zakkai  in  his  Letter  of 
Excommunication  (Harkavy,  p.  232),  in  speaking  of  the  good  he 
had  done  for  the  supposedly  ungrateful  Gaon,  does  not  allude  to 
a  salary,  but  if  the  passage  {ibidem,  p.  22,Z,  lines  16  ff.)  is  correct, 
accuses  him  of  having  appropriated  to  himself  the  donations  of 
the  communities  for  the  academy.  However,  the  sources  do  not 
allow  of  any  categorical  assertion  in  this  matter ;  comp.  Poznanski, 
JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  Ill  (1912-1913),  p.  400,  top. 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  GAONATE        121 

ual  leader,  and  to  befriend  him  in  every  way  possible.  Free 
from  the  cares  and  responsibilities  of  office,  Saadia  was 
assidiously  devoting  his  time  to  literary  work,  when  an 
unexpected  incident  brought  a  change  in  the  situation,  which 
led  to  his  re-installation  into  office. 

It  was  litigation  between  two  parties  that  had  brought 
about  Saadia's  deposition,  and  it  was  again  litigation  that 
opened  the  door  to  his  rehabilitation  as  Gaon  of  Sura.  Two 
litigants  decided  to  have  their  dispute  arbitrated  by  notables. 
The  one  chose  Saadia,  the  other  nominated  the  Exilarch. 
The  latter,  who  considered  it  a  personal  insult  that  anyone 
should  dare  to  recognize  as  judge  a  man  whom  he  had 
deposed  and  excommunicated,  at  once  sent  for  the  offender, 
probably  demanding  of  him  to  drop  Saadia  or  prepare  for 
punishment.  The  man  had  enough  moral  stamina  to  refuse 
the  demand,  whereupon  he  was  seized  and  given  a  severe 
beating.  Wounded  and  his  clothes  torn  to  shreds,  he  left  the 
Exilarch's  office  crying  aloud,  and  telling  whomever  he  met 
on  the  street  what  had  been  done  to  him.  The  incident 
aroused  great  indignation  in  the  community,  especially  as  the 
man  so  maltreated  was  a  stranger,  or  at  any  rate  was  not 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Exilarch,  and  therefore  had  a 
right  to  choose  as  his  judge  whomsoever  he  wished. 

The  people's  patience  had  now  reached  its  limit.  Every- 
body in  the  community  was  tired  of  the  long-standing  feud, 
and  public  opinion  demanded  that  the  matter  be  settled.  The 
last  act  of  violence  on  the  part  of  the  Exilarch  brought  the 
Jews  of  Bagdad  to  their  feet.  Their  representatives  visited 
Bishr  b.  Aaron,  one  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  the  com- 
munity and  the  father-in-law  of  Sarjadah,  the  apostle  of 
hatred  and  feuds,  and  told  him  that  the  situation  had  become 
unbearable.  Finally,  they  said  to  him :  ''  Rise  to  action,  for 
it  is  your  duty,  and  we  shall  assist  you  in  the  effort  to  put  an 
end  to  this  strife,  which  is  fomented  only  by  your  son-in-law 
Sarjadah." ""'     Bishr,   probably  himself   not   quite   satisfied 

''"  Nathan,  p.  82.  The  words  «^X  HM^Jl  ^:^t<t^•  DP^nDH  I^DH^ 
l^nni  do  not  mean  that  peace  depended  solely  on  Aaron  Sarjada, 
so  as  to  warrant  the  conclusion  that  when  peace  was  established, 
it  was    through  the   winning  over   of   the   latter,   but   declare   that 


122  SAADIA  GAON 

with  the  pohcies  of  his  son-in-law,  realized  the  earnestness  of 
tlie  plea.  He  agreed  to  take  upon  himself  the  task  of  restor- 
ing peace.  He  called  upon  the  influential  men  of  the  com- 
munity, and  arranged  with  them  to  meet  in  his  house  at  an 
appointed  date.  The  Exilarch,  too,  was  invited,  and  came. 
Then,  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  assembly,  Bishr  addressed 
the  Exilarch  in  the  following  way :  *'  See  what  you  have 
done!  How  long  will  you  keep  up  this  quarrel  without  fear- 
ing God's  punishment?  Fear  your  God  and  desist  from 
strife,  for  you  knov/  how  grave  are  its  consequences.  It  is 
time  now  that  you  try  to  improve  your  conduct  toward 
Saadia,  that  you  make  peace  with  him,  and  abandon  what- 
ever grudge  you  have  against  him."  Dabid  b.  Zakkai,  instead 
of  resenting  this  unexpected  admonition,  showed  himself 
exceedingly  conciliatory.  Without  argumentation,  at  least 
as  far  as  can  be  learned  from  the  words  of  the  narrator,  he 
at  once  declared  himself  ready  for  peace. 

By  this  act  of  self-denial,  as  well  as  by  the  generosity 
he  displayed  later  on,  David  b.  Zakkai  fully  redeemed  himself. 
It  would  seem  that  the  wrongs  he  had  committed  toward 
Saadia  in  the  heat  of  conflict  were  not  wholly  due  to  faults 
of  character,  but  sprang  rather  from  the  ungoverned  im- 
pulses of  a  hot-headed  aristocrat  with  a  somewhat  exag- 
gerated opinion  of  his  inherited  dignity  and  place,  who  would 
not  brook  interference  on  the  part  of  one  whom  he  had 
himself  appointed  to  office  and  naturally  considered  his  sub- 
ordinate. That  he  fully  appreciated  Saadia's  high  qual- 
ities,^" he  had  manifested  in  the  very  beginning  by  the  fact 

his  son-in-law  was  the  only  cause  of  the  trouble,  and  that  it  was 
therefore  Bishr's  duty  to  step  in  the  breach  and  secure  peace.  That 
Bishr  actually  "  succeeded  in  overcoming  the  hostility  of  his  son-in- 
law  "  (Graetz  (English),  III,  200)  is  not  warranted  by  the  sources; 
see  below,  p.  125. 

^''  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  his  Letter  of  Excommunication 
(Harkavy,  p.  232,  top,  lines  18  ff.)  the  Exilarch  enumerates  the  good 
qualities  of  Saadia,  as  pleasant  manner,  modesty,  meekness,  etc.,  by 
which  he  had  won  his  heart  and  the  hearts  of  the  people,  but 
declares  all  these  qualities  to  have  been  a  sham,  calculated  to 
deceive  him  and  others. 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  GAONATE        123 

that  he  had  made  the  appoinment  in  spite  of  the  caution  of 
the  pious  Nahrawani.  But  later,  after  the  quarrel  had  broken 
out.  even  when  passion  and  anger  biased  his  judg-ment, 
he  must  often  have  deplored  the  turn  affairs  had  taken. 
Unlike  Kohen  Zedek  and  the  cunning  Sarjadah,  he  had  the 
welfare  of  the  Sura  Gaonate  at  heart,  and  was  desirous  of 
maintaining  it  on  a  high  level.  What  he  had  achieved 
through  the  long  fight,  however,  was  quite  contrary  to  his 
purpose,  for  Sura  must  have  lost  appreciably  in  prestige  and 
standing  during  the  period  of  inner  strife  and  dissension. 
Moreover,  he  had  come  to  see  that  in  spite  of  excommunica- 
tion and  deposition  the  best  elements  as  well  as  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  people  remained  loyal  and  friendly  to  the  fallen 
Gaon.""*  Kohen  Zedek,  the  Gaon  of  Pumbedita,  who,  in 
the  interest  of  his  own  college,  had  joined  the  cause  of  the 
Exilarch,  had  in  the  meantime  passed  away  (935)'  and  his 
successor,  a  certain  Zemah  b.  Kafnai,  was  entirely  insig- 
nificant. Altogether,  David  had  come  to  the  realization  that 
he  had  been  on  the  wrong  side,  which  had  turned  out  to  be 
also  the  weak  side. 

In  view  of  all  this  we  need  not  be  suprised  at  the  radical 
change  in  the  Exilarch's  attitude,  and  his  unqualified  re- 
sponse to  Bishr's  appeal  for  peace.  Bishr  did  not  lose  any 
time.  As  soon  as  he  had  the  assurance  of  the  Exilarch, 
he  left  the  assembly  room  and  betook  himself  to  Saadia, 
whom  he  invited  with  all  the  people  in  attendance,  to  follow 
him  to  one  of  his  houses,  in  the  same  enclosure,  opposite  the 
building  in  which  the  Exilarch  and  his  party  were  waiting. 
Arrived  there.  Bishr  addressed  Saadia  with  a  speech  similar 
to  that  which  he  had  made  to  David  b.  Zakkai,  admonishing 
him  to  conclude  peace.  Saadia,  of  course,  was  only  too  glad 
to  follow  the  suggestion,  and  without  condition  assured  the 
mediator  of  his  desire  for  harmony.  Thereupon  the  leading 
personages  present  in  both  houses  formed  themselves  in  two 
divisions,  the  one  conducting  the  Exilarch,  the  other  Saadia, 
and  each  proceeded  toward  the  other  until  they  met.     The 

'^'"*  So  Nathan,  p.  80.  and  Mas'udi,  /.  c.  (above,  note  250,  end). 


124  SAADIA  GAON 

two  men,  who  for  the  last  six  years  had  fought  one  another 
so  bitterly,  now  embraced  and  kissed,  and  their  reconciliation, 
as  shown  by  later  events,^*'^  was  sincere  and  complete. 

One  of  the  happiest  men  in  Bagdad  was  Bishr  himself, 
who  felt  that  he  had  accomplished  a  great  thing  in  bringing 
about  the  longwished-for  reconciliation.  It  happened  that 
the  day  on  which  this  reconciliation  took  place  was  the  Fast 
of  Esther.^'^  Bishr  in  elation  over  his  success,  begged  all 
present  not  to  leave  his  house,  but  to  read  there  the  Scroll  of 
Esther,  and  after  breaking  the  fast  to  stay  with  him  the  whole 
night  for  general  rejoicing.  The  Exilarch  and  Saadia,  how- 
ever, declined  the  invitation,  the  former  proposing  instead 
that  either  Saadia  should  dine  in  the  evening  with  him,  or 
he  should  dine  with  Saadia  in  the  latter's  house.  As  each 
party  was  anxious  for  the  honor  of  having  the  other  as  guest, 
it  was  agreed  that  the  matter  should  be  decided  by  lot.  The 
lot  fell  in  favor  of  the  Exilarch.  Saadia  accordingly  went 
to  the  house  of  David  b.  Zakkai,  and  stayed  with  him  during 
the  two  days  of  Purim.  The  two  strong  men  had  much  to 
discuss  and  many  an  incident  for  which  to  express  mutual 
regret,  but  the  two  days  of  happy  conviviality  wiped  out  the 
old  differences  and  banished  unpleasant  memories.  When  on 
the  third  day,  they  were  to  part  again,  they  keenly  felt  the 
relief  from  the  burden  of  enmity  that  had  weighed  so 
heavily  on  their  souls,  and  were  resolved  to  atone  for  their 
sins  against  one  another  by  establishing  and  maintaining 
a  bond  of  genuine  friendship  and  mutual  respect. 

Saadia  was  now  about  to  be  formally  re-installed  into  his 
former  office.  The  Caliph  Al-Radi  and  his  vizir  'AH  b.  Tsa 
were  not  unfavorably  inclined  toward  him,  so  that  no  objec- 
tion from  that  side  was  to  be  feared.  Some  embarrassment 
seems  to  have  been  felt  on  both  sides  regarding  the  future 
status  of  R.  Joseph  b.  Jacob,  whom  David  b.  Zakkai  had 
appointed  Gaon  in  place  of  Saadia,  and  whose  services  had 
now  become  unnecessary.     But  R.  Joseph,  it  appears,  did 

^  See  below,  p.  127. 

"'  The  27th  of  February,  936. 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  G  AON  ATE        125 

not  raise  any  difficulty.  He  retired  to  private  life  with 
the  provision  that  his  salary  continue  undiminished. 
Saadia  again  became  Head  of  the  Sura  academy/'"  and  the 
new  order  of  things  seems  to  have  satisfied  all  parties  con- 
cerned. The  only  man  of  importance  who  remained  sore 
and  disappointed  was  Saadia's  arch-enemy,  Aaron  Sarjadah, 
the  troublesome  son-in-law  of  the  peace-maker  Bishr.  There 
is  not  the  least  indication  in  our  source  that  he  had  in  any 
way  participated  in  the  conciliatory  proceedings  instituted  by 
his  father-in-law.  It  cannot  be  supposed  that  the  narrator, 
who  appears  to  have  been  careful  throughout  in  relating  all 
details,  would  carelessly  have  omitted  so  important  a  fact  as 
the  winning  over  to  Saadia's  side  of  an  opponent  like  Sar- 
jadah, who,  next  to  the  Exilarch,  was  the  most  conspicuous 
figure  in  the  opposition.  Nor  can  the  reconciliation  of  Sar- 
jadah be  assumed  as  a  matter  of  course  on  the  ground  that  it 
was  his  father-in-law  who  had  brought  about  peace.  On 
the  contrary,  from  the  words  of  the  several  members  of  the 
community  who  in  first  appealing  to  Bishr  for  mediation,  said 
that  it  was  only  his  son-in-law  who  supported  the  conflict,"^ 
it  may  be  deduced  that  Bishr  and  Aaron  were  in  disagreement 
on  the  matter,  and  there  is  nothing  to  assure  us  that  the  latter 
subsequently  changed  his  mind.  Sarjadah  was  not  of  the  same 
spirit  as  the  Exilarch.  The  latter  was  quite  satisfied  with  his 
Gaon.  What  he  wanted  was  subordination,  to  which,  he 
thought,  his  position  entitled  him.  Sarjadah  hated  Saadia  per- 
sonally. As  noted  already,  he  had  an  eye  to  the  Gaonate  him- 
self, and,  besides,  was  always  extremely  jealous  of  the 
haughty  and  independent  foreigner  in  the  chair.    The  out- 

"^  Abraham  b.  David,  p.  66,  top,  states  explicitly  that  Saadia  was  not 
reinstalled,  but  his  statement  seems  to  rest  on  a  misunderstanding  of 
the  words  of  Sherira,  which  are  not  quite  clear  on  that  point ;  comp. 
Rapoport,  D''1  nn^'lfl,  n.  i ;  Weiss,  VK^ini  in  IH  (1904),  IV,  141, 
note  (see  on  the  other  hand  Briill,  Jahrhiicher,  IX,  120).  Abraham  b. 
David  is  refuted  also  by  the  considerable  number  of  Responsa  written 
by  Saadia  in  his  official  capacity  as  Gaon.  This  matter,  however, 
cannot  be  discussed  here  and  will  be  taken  up  at  a  later  stage  of  the 
present  work;  see  below,  note  276. 

^"  See  above,  note  266. 


126  SAADIA  GAON 

come  of  the  long  feud,  on  which  he  had  spent  a  fortune,  could 
only  be  most  galling  to  him.  Being  a  man  of  large  means 
and  of  imperious  nature,  he  would  not  accept  his  defeat  with 
good  grace.  Various  circumstances  make  it  highly  probable 
that  soon  after  the  reconciliation  he  left  Bagdad  and  settled 
in  Pumbedita,  the  seat  of  the  rival  Gaonate. 

Years  before,  Sarjadah  had  been  made  the  recipient  of 
great  honors  in  that  institution.  The  Gaon  Mubashshir  (918- 
926)  had  assigned  to  him,  on  his  visits  during  the  Kallah 
months,  a  seat  in  the  "  great  row,"  a  distinction  usually 
reserved  for  academic  members  of  the  rank  next  to  that 
of  the  'Alluiim.'^^  Some  of  the  members  of  the  acad- 
emy, who,  like  the  late  Gaon  Kohen  Zedek,  had  opposed 
Saadia,  were  naturally  not  satisfied  with  his  coming  into 
power  again.  One  of  them,  Hananiah,  the  father  of  the 
famous  Gaon  Sherira,  became  Gaon  of  Pumbedita  not 
long  after  Saadia's  re-installation  (938-943).  He  is  known 
to  have  been  at  enmity  with  Saadia."*  It  is  therefore  quite 
natural  that  after  what  had  happened  in  Sura,  Sarjadah 
should  have  afifiliated  himself  with  the  rival  academy  from 
which  he  had  received  honors,  and  where  he  fotuid  sympa- 
thizers of  note.  He  probably  did  all  in  his  power  to  raise  the 
standard  of  that  academy,  supporting  it  with  his  means,  and 
strengthening  it  against  the  competition  of  Sura.  At  the 
same  time  he  was  preparing  the  ground  for  the  execution 
of  his  long  cherished  plan  of  becoming  Gaon  himself;  and 
Pumbedita  proved  a  much  better  field  for  his  operations 
than  Sura.  When  the  Gaon  Hananiah  died  (943),  he  was 
to  be  succeeded,  according  to  the  rules  of  the  academy,  by 
a  certain  Rabbi  Amram,  but  Sarjadah  exercised  such  power 
over  the  authorities,  and  so  intimidated  the  candidate,  that 
the  latter  did  not  dare  voice  his  aspiration.'^'  Sarjadah  ap- 
pointed himself  Gaon  and  ruled  with  an  iron  hand  until  the 
time  of  his  death  (961). 

'''Sherira,  p.  41,  top.  For  the  meaning  of  the  "great  row" 
(«nn  t^ll)  see  Poznanski,  D^JIK^  U^^^^V,  Warsaw,  1909,  p.  a7\ 
comp.  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  II,  3x5,  n.  3. 

'''  See  above,  note  239. 

^"  Sherira,  at  the  end  of  his  LeUcr. 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  GAONATE        127 

The  description  of  Sarjadah's  career  has  carried  us  a  httlc 
beyond  our  point.  The  digression  needs  no  excuse,  how- 
ever. For  the  purposes  of  a  biography  it  is  essential  to  know 
of  what  cahbre  were  the  hero's  friends  and  foes.  Sarjadah 
played  too  prominent  a  part  in  the  dispute  about  the  Sura 
Gaonate  for  us  to  have  let  him  drop  out  of  sight  as  soon  as 
his  part  in  the  play  was  over.  His  subsequent  career  serves 
to  bring  out  more  clearly  the  character  of  the  man  against 
whom  Saadia  had  to  contend.  But  whatever  the  truth  about 
Sarjadah  may  be,  whether  he  remained  for  a  time  in  Bag- 
dad or  went  at  once  to  Pumbedita,  it  is  certain  that  Saadia 
was  not  again  disturbed  in  his  Gaonate.  His  relations  with 
the  Exilarch  remained  peaceful  and  amicable  to  the  end. 
From  the  large  number  of  Hebrew  and  Arabic  Responsa 
written  by  Saadia  in  his  capacity  as  Gaon,  to  various  com- 
munities in  and  outside  of  Babylon,  many  of  which  belong- 
to  this  later  period,^'*'  it  appears  that  under  his  presidency 
Sura  was  again  looked  upon  by  all  Jewry  as  the  center  of 
learning  and  authority.  No  doubt,  he  wrote  and  completed 
during  this  period  some  of  his  numerous  scientific  works, 
but  they  cannot  be  designated  with  certainty. 

The  period  of  renewed  co-operation  between  Saadia  and 
the  Exilarch  was  rather  short.  About  three  to  four  years 
after  their  reconciliation  David  b.  Zakkai  passed  aw^ay  (940). 
He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Judah,  the  same,  who,  ten  years 
before,  had  raised  his  hand  against  the  Gaon.  Judah  died  at 
the  end  of  seven  months,  leaving  a  son  twelve  years  old. 
Saadia  on  this  sad  occasion  again  showed  the  nobility  of 
his  character.  The  orphaned  boy  was  taken  into  his  house 
and  treated  as  his  own  son.  The  Gaon  sent  the  lad  to  school 
and  tried  to  give  him  a  good  education,  fitting  for  his  future 
position  of  Exilarch.""  Providence,  however,  had  decided 
otherwise :   Both  the  Exilarchate  and  the  Sura  Gaonate  were 

"^®  See  above,  note  271.  The  assumption  that  they  were  all  composed 
in  the  last  year  of  his  Gaonate  (Graetz  (English),  III,  201)  is  un- 
fomided;  comp.  Harkavy,  D^J1X:in  nniK^D,  p.  389;  Steinschneider, 
Arabischc  Literatur,  p.  48. 

'"  Nathan,  p.  82. 


128  SAADIA  GAON 

soon  to  go  out  of  existence.  Within  two  years  after  the 
death  of  David  b.  Zakkai,  Saadia's  earthly  career  was  pre- 
maturely ended,  and  the  conditions  that  followed  made  the 
continuation  of  either  institution  impossible. 

Saadia  was  but  fifty  when  he  died,  in  September,  942,  com- 
mon era."*  As  he  left  no  son  fit  to  succeed  him,""  the  ever 
available  R.  Joseph  b.  Jacob,  whom  David  b.  Zakkai  had 
once  appointed  counter-Gaon,  and  who  was  retired  after  the 
reconcihation  of  Saadia  wath  the  Exilarch,  w^as  again  called 
into  office.  This  time  he  clearly  demonstrated  his  incom- 
petence. Lacking  the  support  of  a  strong  Exilarch,  as  David 
b.  Zakkai  had  been,  and  having  as  rival  the  learned  and  iron- 
handed  Aaron  Sarjadah,  who  about  that  time  (943),  seized 
the  Pumbedita  Gaonate,"***  he  was  unable  to  keep  the  Sura 
institution  alive.  Pumbedita  received  most  of  the  rev- 
enues from  the  communities,  and  attracted  large  numbers 
of  pupils,  while  Sura  declined  more  and  more.     Realizing 

"^This  date  is  based  on  Mas'udi,  I.e.,  p.  113  (Carra  de  Vaux, 
p.  160;  see  above,  note  20),  who  says  that  ''Saadia's  death  occurred 
after  330  "  of  the  Hegira.  Other  authors  give  the  date  941/2,  which 
corresponds  to  the  date  1253  of  the  Seleucidan  era  given  by  Sherira 
(comp.  Rapoport,  D^nvn  m^n,  1828,  p.  15,  n.  i;  Steinschneider,  CB., 
col.  2158)  ;  for  the  discrepancy  between  the  dates  see  Engelkemper,  De 
Saadiae  Gaonis  Vita,  p.  14,  n.  3  [see  in  particular  the  Postscript]. 
Abraham  b.  David,  p.  66,  says  that  he  died  "  of  melancholia  ''  (ilion  jD, 
niint^n)  which  steinschneider  (Arabische  Literatur,  p.  47)  cleverly 
modifies  by  "in  (for  an)  Melancholic, "  adding  that  the  great  strug- 
gles and  trials  Saadia  had  gone  through  may  indeed  have  hastened 
his  death.  Some  Kabbalistic  authors  volunteer  the  information  that 
Saadia  was  buried  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Sinai  (Jehiel  Heilprin, 
nnnn  'TID,  Warsaw,  1891,  p.  143)  ;  comp.  Engelkemper,  /.  c., 
p.  14,  n.  4.  The  famous  traveller  Benjamin  of  Tudela  in  his  Itinerary 
(London,  1840),  I,  69a,  reports  that  Saadia  v/as  buried  in  Sura. 

^®  See  below,  p.  132. 

**'*That  it  was  Sarjada,  who  in  his  desire  to  do  away  once  and  for 
all  with  the  Suran  Gaonate  had  gradually  undermined  the  position 
of  the  weak  Rabbi  Joseph  and  caused  him  to  desert  his  place,  is 
significantly  hinted  at  by  Sherira,  who  with  a  fling  at  both  men 
remarks  that  R.  Joseph's  position  had  lost  greatly  in  dignity,  and  he 
could  not  hold  his  own  even  against  R.  Aaron  (pnDD    11''^   mil   N^l 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  GAONATE        129 

the  doom  of  his  Gaonate,  R.  Joseph  decided  to  abandon  it  to 
its  fate.  He  emigrated  to  Basra,  where  he  remained  until 
his  death.  The  academy  was  closed,  after  it  had  been  in  exis- 
tence with  but  little  interruption  for  over  seven  hundred 
years.  About  half  a  century  later  it  came  to  temporary  life 
again,  under  circumstances  that  have  not  been  sufficiently 
cleared  up.  It  seems  that  great  struggles  had  again  broken 
out  in  Babylonian  Jewry,  the  famous  Pumbeditan  Gaon 
Sherira  and  his  stafif  having  probably  opposed  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  the  Sura  Gaonate,  as  the  meagre  revenues  from 
the  communities  did  not  suffice  to  support  two  institutions, 
and  perhaps  also,  for  other  reasons.^^    The  fallen  Gaonate 

^"The  source  of  the  information  that  Sherira  fell  into  trouble 
toward  the  end  of  his  Gaonate  is  Abraham  b.  David,  p.  67.  He  merely 
states  that  malicious  persons  had  arraigned  Sherira  and  his  son  Hai 
before  the  Caliph  who  ordered  their  imprisonment  and  the  confisca- 
tion of  all  their  property,  so  that  they  were  left  without  a  livelihood. 
Abraham  does  not  even  hint  at  the  cause  of  this  trouble,  and  modern 
historians  have  suggested  various  theories.  Graetz  (English),  III, 
233  f.,  assumes  that  the  people  were  dissatisfied  with  the  rigor  of 
Sherira's  administration.  Weiss,  Vti^niTl  nn  in  (1904),  IV,  I54, 
asserts  that  objection  was  made  to  Sherira's  appointment  of  his  son 
Hai  as  successor.  Neither  of  these  explanations  is  satisfactory.  To 
my  mind  it  was  again  contention  between  Sura  and  Pumbedita  that 
brought  about  the  intervention  of  the  government.  Prominent 
citizens  of  Bagdad  probably  endeavored  to  re-establish  the  Sura 
Gaonate,  perhaps  under  the  headship  of  Dosa,  the  learned  son  of 
Saadia  (see  p.  132).  Sherira  and  Hai  must  have  opposed  the  idea 
bitterly,  as  at  that  time  the  revenues  of  the  Gaonate  had  decreased 
so  much  that  Pumbedita,  though  alone  in  the  field,  could  hardly  keep 
itself  alive.  As  once  before,  in  the  time  of  Saadia,  the  contending 
parties  appealed  to  the  Government,  and  the  result  was  the  Gaon's 
imprisonment.  Influential  friends  of  Sherira  and  Hai  secured  their 
liberation,  whereupon  a  compromise  was  reached,  to  the  effect  that 
the  Suran  Gaonate  be  restored  under  the  presidency  of  a  Pumbeditan 
scholar,  Samuel  b.  Hophni,  as  against  Dosa.  The  two  institutions 
were  then  closely  linked  together  by  Hai's  marrying  the  daughter  of 
Samuel,  and  henceforth  both  did  their  work  in  perfect  harmony. 
This  course  of  events  is  strongly  suggested  also  by  a  Genizah 
fragment  {JQR.,  XIV,  308),  in  which  Samuel  b.  Hophni  appeals  to  a 
community  or  communities  for  the  support  of  Sura.  He  assures  the 
latter  that  by  giving  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  Hai  perfect  peace 


130  SAADIA  GAON 

was,  however,  reorganized  under  the  headship  of  R.  Samuel 
b.  Hophni,  a  great  scholar  from  the  Pumbedita  academy  and 
grandson  of  the  Gaon  Kohen  Zedek,  whilom  opponent  of 
Saadia.  Peace  was  finally  established  between  the  two 
institutions,  Sherira's  famous  son,  the  later  Gaon  Hai, 
marrying  the  daughter  of  Samuel  b.  Hophni ;  and  the  two 
academies    got    along   financially    as    well    as    they    could. 

had  been  established  between  the  two  academies,  and  that  Sura  is 
therefore  entitled  to  its  share.  The  words,  110:i  U)'?^  Ti'^^V^  "'3 
IJD  |1H;i  Dyi  .  .  .  .  nt^J  X"inti>  nn  id  pm  *i:^J^n,  do  not  neces- 
sarily mean  that  prior  to  this  the  issue  was  between  him  and  Sherira 
personally,  as  interpreted  by  Margoliouth,  the  editor  of  the  fragment, 
for  what  Samuel  wished  particularly  to  emphasize  was  that  the  two 
academies  made  peace.  But  even  if  Margoliouth's  interpretation  were 
correct  it  would  not  vitiate  our  argument,  for  Sherira  and  Hai  must 
have  opposed  the  revival  of  Sura  on  principle,  and  would  therefore 
have  objected  also  to  a  candidacy  of  Samuel.  The  arrangements  for 
peace,  the  fragment  states,  were  made  shortly  before  Sherira's  death 
(D'lJtJ^  'n  IDD^DK  DID;  comp.  Marx,  in  Neumark's  Journal  of 
Jewish  Lore,  Cincinnati,  1919,  p.  400).  This  tallies  exactly  with  the 
account  of  Abraham  b.  David,  who  makes  the  imprisonment  of 
Sherira  occur  towards  the  end  of  his  life.    The  words  of  Abraham 

b.  David  iDiH  x^i  n:^  H^^^  p3  «ini  nnx  n>n  t^mtj'  nn  n^n:i 

n"lJ1i<:iO  which  so  far  have  defied  all  attempts  at  interpretation  (see 
e.  g.  Graetz,  Geschichte  V,  (4),  368,  n.  2;  Weiss,  )"ll  (Wilna  1904), 
IV,  154,  note;  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  98,  n.  i;  Selig  Cassel,  in 
his  famous  article  "Juden,"  in  the  Encycl.  of  Ersch  and  Gruber, 
II,  vol.  31,  p.  192,  n.  28,  and  later  in  his  Wissenschaftliche  Berichte 
....  der  Erfurter  Akademic  ....  I,  Erfurt,  1853,  p.  161,  who 
quotes  parallels  from  Oriental  history  of  people  being  hanged  by 
one  hand)  will  now  receive  the  right  sense.  For  T\T]^  IT'^.  though 
found  with  some  variants  in  all  MSS  of  the  H^npn  "iTDand  in  later 
works  {e.  g.  the  PH^T  IDT,  Neubauer,  MJC,  I,  92,  117),  we  should 
read  n "13 ^D3,  meaning  that  after  the  imprisonment  Sherira,  through 
the  intervention  of  friends,  "  regained  influence  with  the  govern- 
ment and  was  not  removed  from  the  Gaonate."  It  is  true  that  many 
scholars  of  fame  have  offered  other  explanations  for  the  corrupt 
phrase  (finx  rp5  i^intJ^  ni  n^nJI)  one  proposing  DHX  n^i<  HU, 
another  (Luzzatto,  quoted  by  Graetz,  I.e.)  IDin^^  ''"I"'^,  a  third  one 
DD''*!  T'O  n^nJI,  and  so  on  (see  Levy,  Neuhebr.  Worterh.,  s.  v. 
M'^'l) ',  but  all  this  is  in  the  face  of  the  fact  that  the  same 
Abraham  b.  David  uses  the  phrase  DID^On  n^flJ"!  in  other  pas- 
sages of  his  work  to  express  the  same  thought  as  that  in  the 
passage    before    us.      Thus,    in    his    presentation    of    the    quarrel 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  GAONATE        131 

Samuel,  who  was  one  of  the  most  learned  Geonim,  followed 
entirely  in  the  footsteps  of  his  great  predecessor  Saadia,  pro- 
ducing a  considerable  number  of  important  works,  among 
them  philosophical  commentaries  on  the  Bible/^^  He  suc- 
ceeded in  keeping  alive  the  Sura  Gaonate  for  about  forty 
years,  but  it  never  regained  the  preeminence  it  had  enjoyed 
under  Saadia.  Samuel  died  in  1034,  and  the  academy  was 
then  closed  for  ever.  Only  four  years  later  his  son-in-law 
Hai,  the  Gaon  of  Pumbedita,  also  passed  away,  and  this 
death  ended  the  history  of  the  Geonim.^** 

between  Saadia  and  the  Exilarch,  when  he  reaches  the  point  of  the 
latter's  gaining  the  upper  hand  with  the  Caliph  (Neubauer,  MJC, 
I,  65,  line  4  from  below),  he  says  niD^Dn  H^DJI  Til  PTHDJ  D"nX1. 
In  the  same  sense  he  uses  the  phrase  ^^Dl  H^n^l  ("and  we  shall 
gain  influence  with  the  king")  in  the  case  of  the  brothers  Ibn  Gau 
{ih.,  p.  70,  line  6).  In  the  latter  passage  also  a  number  of  nonsensical 
variants  are  found  in  the  MSS.,  proving  that  the  copyists  did  not 
know  the  meaning  of  the  phrase.  Later  authors  merely  copied 
Abraham  b.  David  with  the  mistakes.  It  should  be  noted  that  the 
verb  n^n  is  used  in  a  similar  figurative  sense  in  the  Talmud  p. 
Berakot,  4,  i,  near  end:  nn  ni^nn^  m^  1^  t^"*^  Dl^  ntJ^N.  It 
should  be  remarked  that  the  phrase  occurs  in  this  sense  also  in 
connection  with  T^l  (comp.  Mann,  JOR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  X,  p.  123: 
■•IJ  T^2  IDVy  n^nM),  which  would  make  it  possible  to  accept  the 
emendation  of  Luzzatto.  But  it  is  improbable  that  a  sister  of  Sherira, 
of  whom  we  hear  nowhere  else,  should  have  been  the  one  to  exercise 
such  influence.    See  also  B.  Lewin,  Jl^^l  i^T'lti^  11,  Jaffa,  1916,  p.  29. 

Through  the  rectification  of  this  error  the  whole  sentence  becomes 
clear.  The  words  H^K^  HND  jlD  t^llTl  do  not  intend  to  state  Sherira's 
age  at  the  time  he  died,  as  interpreted  by  Weiss,  /.  c,  for  this 
the  author  had  stated  before  (p.  66,  line  8  from  below).  Besides, 
the  ensuing  words  DIJlt^IlD  IDIH  X^l  would  then  be  entirely  out  of 
place  after  the  announcement  of  Sherira's  death.  Abraham  only 
means  to  say  that  when  Sherira  regained  his  influence  with  the 
government  and  was  freed  from  prison  he  was  nearly  an  hundred 
years  old,  that  is  either  97  or  98  years,  and  after  his  liberation  he  was 
allowed  to  resume  the  Gaonate.  Owing  to  his  old  age,  however,  he 
abdicated  shortly  after  the  occurrence  (998)  in  favor  of  his  son  Hai. 

^*^  See  Steinschneider,  Arabische  Literatur,  §  65. 

^"It  is  true"  says  Graetz  (History,  III,  253),  "that  the  college 
[of  Pumbedita]  immediately  chose  a  successor  [to  Hai],  who  acted 
at  once  as  Gaon  and  as  Exilarch,  it  seems  only  in  order  to  have  the 


132  SAADIA  GAON 

In  conclusion  a  few  words  may  be  added  about  Saadia's 
family  at  the  time  of  his  death.  As  we  have  seen  above,"" 
Saadia  was  a  father  when  he  left  Egypt.  In  his  letters  to 
his  former  pupils  he  twice  refers  to  his  children."""  If  our 
assumption  is  correct,  that  the  lengthy  panegyric  on  a  Gaon 
by  his  secretary  has  reference  to  Saadia,  he  had  three  or  four 
sons  and  two  married  daughters  at  the  time  of  his  first  occu- 
pancy of  the  Gaonate  (928-932).  The  daughters,  perhaps 
also  one  of  the  sons,  must  thus  have  been  born  in  Egypt. 
A  brother  is  mentioned  often  in  the  same  panegyric.^  He 
seems  to  have  belonged  to  Saadia's  household,  as  did  the 
sons-in-law  with  their  children.  We  further  learn  from  the 
eulogy  that  at  the  time  it  w^as  written  another  child  was  about 
to  be  born  to  the  Gaon.""  This  child  was  Dosa,  who  later 
attained  fame.  At  Saadia's  death  (942),  this  Dosa  was  of 
tender  age,  and  naturally  could  not  be  considered  as  his 
father's  immediate  successor.  The  older  sons,  as  also  the 
brother  and  the  sons-in-law,  if  they  all  survived  Saadia, 
probably  lacked  the  scholarship  and  other  qualities  neces- 
sary for  a  Gaon.  When  Dosa  grew  up  and  was  recognized 
as  a  great  Talmudic  authority,  he  may  have  laid  claim  to 
the  position  of  his  late  father.  It  is  therefore  probable 
that  he  had  some  part  in  the  struggles  that  preceded  the 
appointment  of  R.  Samuel  b.  Hophni  to  the  Gaonate  of 
Sura.^" 

But  all  this  must  remain  a  matter  of  mere  conjecture  so 
long  as  we  have  to  rely  on  the  sources  now  available.  Some  of 

two  offices  buried  together  in  the  same  grave  with  his  person."  In 
1040  the  successor,  named  Hiskiah,  a  descendant  of  David  b.  Zakkai, 
was  slandered  at  court,  imprisoned,  tortured  and  then  executed ;  see 
Graetz,  I.e.,  p.  254;  comp.  Poznanski,  IIK:!  nnVD  Din  XDH  m. 
Berditschew,  1906  (reprint  from  Ha-Gorcn,  vol.  6),  p.  7. 

^  See   chapter  i. 

^  See  above,  pp.  55  f. 

^*®  Schechter,  Saadyana,  p.  67,  top,  69,  top,  71,  line  4  from  bottom  ; 
Mann,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  IX  (1918-1919),  p.  159,  1.  15;  comp.  in 
particular  above,  note   11. 

'^''Ibidem,  pp.  66,  lines  25-26;  67,  line  19;  see  above,  notes  13,  14. 

"'  See  above,  note  281. 


SAADIA'S  APPOINTMENT  TO  THE  GAONATE        133 

the  many  unexplored  Genlzah  fragments  may,  we  hope, 
shed  new  light  on  this  dark  period.  Thus  much,  however, 
is  certain — this  learned  son  of  Saadia  was  looked  upon  as 
one  of  the  most  eminent  scholars  of  the  time,  .not  only  by 
the  Jews  of  Babylonia,  but  also  by  those  of  foreign  coun- 
tries, especially  Northern  Africa  and  Spain.  Various  com- 
munities addressed  religious  and  legal  questions  to  him  as 
they  had  done  to  previous  and  contemporary  Geonim. 
Several  of  his  authoritative  Responsa  are  still  extant,  while 
others  are  referred  to  in  the  sources.  From  a  passage  in 
one  of  these  Responsa ''^^  it  appears  that  he  was  the  head 
of  a  college,  whose  location  cannot  be  ascertained.^*'  Later 
authors  often  refer  to  him  as  Gaon.  Aside  from  his  Tal- 
mudic  learning  he  occupied  himself  with  philosophic  studies, 
following  therein  the  example  of  his  father.  In  a  marginal 
note  to  an  Arabic  manuscript  of  Maimonides'  "  Guide  of 
the  Perplexed,"  the  writer,  in  all  probability  Maimonides 
himself,  mentions  Dosa  among  other  authors  who  had  refuted 

^*  See  Poznanski's  essay  on  Dosa  (quoted  above,  note  283),  p.  9, 
whence  all  other  details  given  in  the  text  are  taken. 

^"^  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  Dosa  is  the  author  of  the  fragmentary 
letter  in  Ginzberg's  Geonica,  II,  87,  in  which  the  sons  of  Natira  and 
of  Aaron  Sarjada  are  mentioned  as  the  leading  members  of  the 
Bagdad  community.  Sarjadah  was  already  dead,  as  the  writer  adds 
to  the  names  riD*!!^  D''DDJ<Jn  IDT,  hence  he  must  have  been  writing 
after  960.  As  Ginzberg  properly  remarks,  the  whole  trend  of  the 
letter  makes  it  appear  clearly  that  the  writer  was  a  man  of  con- 
siderable influence  and  high  position.  That  he  was  a  Gaon  is 
precluded  by  the  fact  that  he  resided  in  Bagdad.  But  Dosa  may  have 
continued  the  work  of  his  father  as  the  head  of  a  college  in  the  City 
of  Bagdad,  which  in  the  course  of  time  gained  great  authority, 
though  it  was  not  considered  officially  a  Gaonate.  Later  authors 
were  thus  justified  in  referring  to  Dosa  as  Gaon;  comp.  Poznanski, 
/.  c,  pp.  9,  15,  21,  bottom,  23  f.,  and  especially  the  references  in  the 
"  Supplement,"  ibidem,  p.  27.  Dosa  and  his  supporters,  probably  the 
same  sons  of  Natira  and  perhaps  also  the  sons  of  Sarjada,  may  have 
tried  later  on  to  transplant  the  college  to  Sura  and  establish  it  there 
as  a  regular  Gaonate,  with  the  result  that  not  Dosa,  but  Samuel  b. 
Hophni  got  the  position.  Dosa  reached  an  age  of  about  90  years ;  see 
Poznanski,  /.  c,  p.  8,  and  above,  notes  13,  14. 


134  SAADIA  GAON 

the  theory  of  the  eternity  of  matter/'^  His  fame  reached  also 
Hisdai  Ibn  Shaprut  (915-70),  the  renowned  Jewish  states- 
man at  the  court  of  the  Caliph  'Abdur-Rahman  at  Cordova, 
with  whom  he  entered  into  correspondence.  At  Hisdai's  re- 
quest Dosa  wrote  the  biography  of  his  father,  Saadia, 
describing  therein  also  all  "the  good  he  [Saadia]  had  done 
for  Israel."  ^'  This  biography,  which  no  doubt  contained 
all  the  material,  the  want  of  which  has  been  so  keenly  felt 
in  the  course  of  this  presentation,  is  unfortunately  lost. 

*"  Murik,  Notice  sur  Rabbi  Saadia  Gaon,  Paris,  1838,  p.  13,  and  in 
Guide  des  Egares,  I,  462  ;  Poznanski,  /.  c.,  p.  25 ;  comp.  above,  note  241. 

^^*  Abraham  b.  David,  p.  ^',  comp.  Steinschneider,  Arabische 
Literatur,  §  32 ;  Poznanski,  /.  c,  pp.  9  f . 


PART  II 
THE  WORKS  OF  SAADIA  GAON 


Chapter  VI 
SAADIA'S  WORKS 
Saadia's  literary  activity  embraced  nearly  all  the  branches 
of  knowledge  known  and  cultivated  among  the  Jews  and 
Arabs  of  his  day.  His  works,  which  have  come  down  either 
complete  or  in  a  fragmentary  form,  or  are  known  only  from 
quotations  in  the  writings  of  later  authors,  cover  the 
following  fields  of  learning  with  their  respective  sub- 
divisions : 

A)  Hebrew    philology    (comprising   grammar,    lexicog- 

raphy, and  exegesis)  ; 

B)  Liturgy  (including  poetics  in  general)  ; 

C)  Halakah  in  its  manifold  ramifications   (covering  the 

various  branches  of  the  Jewish  religious  and  civil 
law)  ; 

D)  Calendar  and  chronology  (largely  controversial)  ; 

E)  Philosophy  (especially  the  philosophy  of  rehgion  and 

embracing  the  author's  systems  of  ethics  and  psy- 
chology) ; 

F)  Polemics  against  the  Karaites  and  other  opponents  of 

traditional    Judaism    (of    diversified    content    and 
written  at  various  periods  of  the  author's  life). 
There  is  no  possibility  of  ascertaining  the  exact  chrono- 
logical order  of  the  works  of  Saadia  belonging  to  the  various 
branches  of  learning  enumerated.^"^    So  far  as  these  branches 

^  In  the  various  attempts  that  have  been  made  at  a  chronological 
arrangement  of  Saadia's  works,  too  much  emphasis  is  laid  on  the 
references  found  in  his  writings,  from  one  to  another.  Such  refer- 
ences do  not  prove  that  the  work  referred  to  actually  preceded  in 
time  that  in  which  the  reference  is  found.  It  is  known  that  Saadia 
was  constantly  changing  and  improving  upon  his  writings  (comp. 
Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  30)  and  of  some,  as  the  'Agron  (see  p.  139)  the 
Sefer  Ha-Galui  (p.  269),  parts  of  the  Kitdh  al-Amdndt  (p.  194),  and 
several  of  his  commentaries  on  Biblical  books,  he  even  prepared  more 
than  one  edition.  He  may  therefore  have  inserted  in  revising  his 
works  of  an  earlier  period,  references  to  others  composed  at  a  later 
date.    Thus,  in  his  Commentary  on  Proverbs  (ed.  Derenbourg,  Paris, 

137 


138  SAADIA  GAON 

themselves  are  concerned,  it  may  however  be  assumed  with 
sufficient  reason  that  they  were  taken  up  by  Saadia  for 
Hterary  presentation  in  the  order  here  given,  although  some 
works  in  the  field  of  liturgy,  or  Halakah,  etc.,  may  have  pre- 
ceded in  time  some  under  the  heading  of  philology.  In  the 
following  pages  I  shall  attempt  to  give  a  general  characteri- 
zation of  Saadia's  writings  without  entering  upon  a  detailed 
account  of  the  contents  of  each  book  or  fragment.  Such  an 
account  would  reach  far  beyond  the  limits  set  to  the  present 
work. 

PHILOLOGY 

a)  Grammar  and  Lexicography 
Saadia  was  the  father  and  founder  of  Hebrew  philological 
science.'^  He  laid  down  for  the  first  time,  so  far  as  is  known, 
scientific  rules  for  a  systematic  treatment  of  the  Hebrew 
language.  These  were  set  forth  principally  in  three  books : 
i)  'Agron  (|n;iK),  a  Hebrew  dictionary  in  two  parts.  In 
the  first  part  all  the  words  (nouns,  verbs,  etc.)  were  arranged 

1894)  he  refers  twice  (pp.  94,  bottom,  195,  top)  to  that  on  Isaiah 
(ed.  Derenbourg,  Paris,  1896),  while  in  the  latter  (p.  126)  he  refers 
to  the  former ;  comp.  Derenbourg's  Introduction  to  his  edition  of  the 
Commentary  on  Proverbs,  p.  vii,  n.  2;  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XVIII, 
(1906),  318;  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  30,  n.  7.  Moreover,  some  of  these 
references  may  have  been  added  on  the  margin  by  later  readers  and 
then  put  into  the  text  by  copyists;  comp.  Harkavy,  Ha-Goren,  VI, 
27.  For  a  detailed  discussion  of  the  question  of  the  chronology  see 
Graetz,  Geschichte  (4),  V,  Note  20,  pp.  523  ff.  Quite  inconsistent  in 
this  respect  is  S.  Eppenstein  in  his  Beitrdge  zur  Geschichte  und 
Literatur  im  geondischen  Zeitalter  (reprint  from  MGWJ.,  1908-1913), 
Berlin,  1913.  The  publication  of  the  Genizah  fragments  has  estab- 
lished the  fact  that  Saadia  had  left  Egypt  not  later  than  915,  when  he 
was  in  his  twenty-third  year.  Eppenstein  is  well  aware  of  this  fact 
(p.  90,  n.  4).  Nevertheless  he  assigns  (pp.  78,  89,  90,  119,  121)  to 
Egypt,  aside  from  the  'Agron  and  the  Kutub  al-Lugah,  also  several 
commentaries  on  the  books  of  the  Bible,  the  Kitdh  al-Tamyiz  (written 
in  926),  the  Commentary  on  the  Book  Yesirah  (written  in  931),  and, 
naturally,  all  the  books  mentioned  therein,  as  the  Commentaries  on 
Genesis  and  Isaiah  (comp.  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  66,  n.  23)  and  on 
the  Tractate  Niddah  (see  Bibliography,  III,  no.  10).  It  is  neither 
possible  that  Saadia  wrote  so  many  works  before  reaching  the  age 
of  23,  nor  is  there  any  proof  that  he  ever  returned  to  Egypt  after  his 
sojourn  in  Asia  (Eppenstein,  pp.  103,  116).  [See,  however,  Post- 
script, p.  420.] 

"^  See  above,  pp.  34  f . 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  i39 

in  alphabetical  order  according  to  their  initial  letters,  to 
help  writers  of  poetry  to  make  acrostics.  In  the  second 
part,  the  final  letters  of  the  words  were  alphabetically  ar- 
ranged, to  facilitate  the  making  of  rhymes.  The  whole  was 
thus  intended  to  be  a  guide  in  the  art  of  Hebrew  versification. 
The  definitions  in  this  lexicon  were  Hebrew  and  there  was 
a  rhetorical  Introduction  in  a  pure  Biblical  vocabulary,  pro- 
vided with  vowel  points  and  accents,  in  which  Saadia  briefly 
summarizes  the  history  of  the  Hebrew  language,  deplores  its 
woful  neglect  by  the  Jews  of  his  time,  and  urges  them  to 
devote  themselves  again  to  its  study  and  cultivation.  He 
then  turns  to  the  exposition  of  certain  fundamental  rules  of 
Hebrew  grammar. 

Saadia  wrote  this  work  when  he  was  about  twenty.  Sev- 
eral years  later  he  issued  an  enlarged  edition,  in  which  each 
word  of  the  dictionary  was  followed  by  its  translation  into 
Arabic.  He  furthermore  inserted  portions  treating  of  the 
various  subjects  and  forms  of  poetry.  This  addition  induced 
him  to  change  the  title  of  the  work  and  call  it  *'  The  Book  on 
Hebrew  Poetics "  (^J^niy^t?  '^V^'7'i^  nxnD).'''  Finally  he 
added  an  Arabic  Introduction  wherein  he  gives  a  brief  ac- 
count of  the  contents  of  the  work,  mentioning  incidentally 
some  of  the  early  Payyetanim,  such  as  Jose  b.  Jose,  Yannai, 
Eleazar  Kalir,  and  others.  These  references  make  this 
Introduction  highly  valuable. 

Unfortunately  only  the  two  Introductions  and  a  portion 
of  the  dictionary  have  been  preserved.''^''  Nor  are  the  manu- 
scripts of  the  Introductions  in  our  possession  quite  complete, 
the  Arabic  being  defective  at  the  beginning  and  the  Hebrew 
at  the  end. 

2)  KuHih  al-Lugah  (n:i^^t?  ^HD),  "  Books  on  Language," 
a  grammatical  work  in  twelve  parts,  which  the  author  some- 
times designated  as  separate  books,  at  other  times  collectively 

*^'  See,  regarding  this  matter,  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  6i ;  Bacher, 
REJ.,  XXXIX,  207 ;  Eppenstein,  Beitr'dge,  p.  70,  n.  5. 
"^  See  the  Bibliography,  s.  v.  'Agron,  p.  306. 


140  SAADIA  GAON 

as  one  book/"    Of  this  work,  the  oldest  crammar  of  the  He- 


fe^ 


brew  language  known,  only  a  few  fragments  are  extant/'" 
Several  passages  from  it  are  quoted  by  Saadia  himself  and 
in  the  works  of  later  authors/^'' 

3)  Tafsir  al-sah'ma  Idfzah  al-fdridah  (pyaD^K  T'DDD 
rn~iDPfc<  ribs?),  "Explanation  of  the  Seventy  Isolated 
Words,"  a  list  of  the  so-called  hapaxlegomena  and  other 
very  rare  Hebrew  and  Aramaic  words  of  the  Bible.  Saadia 
interprets  the  words  by  way  of  analogy,  quoting  for  each 
word  a  passage  from  post-Biblical  literature  (Mishnah, 
Babylonian  and  Palestinian  Talmud,  Targum,  and  Midrash) 
in  which  it  occurs,  thus  leaving  no  doubt  as  to  its  meaning. 
The  list  actually  contains  ninety  words.  Probably  a  slip 
of  the  pen  occurred  in  writing  the  Arabic  word  for  ninety 
in  the  unique  MS.,  which  bears  the  title  given  above.^^    The 

^Thus,  in  his  Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yesirah,  p.  45,  line  5, 
Saadia  refers  to  the  book  as  ^^'^^^?1  ^^l'7^  IDS,  meaning  those 
parts  or  chapters  of  the  work  that  dealt  with  the  question  of  dagesh 
and  raphe,  while  on  p.  75,  last  line  but  one,  he  refers  to  it  under  its 
general  title  Kutiib  al-Luga,  and  quotes  a  lengthy  passage  from  its 
first  chapter  (see  the  Bibliography,  p.  307).  In  the  Sefer  ha-Galui 
(see  below,  p.  271)  he  again  quotes  it  simply  as  "  the  Twelve  Parts;  " 
comp.  Malter,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  Ill  (1912-1913),  p.  494,  n.  25.  Harkavy 
who  maintained  the  erroneous  theory  that  the  work  is  identical  with 
the  'Agron,  collected  all  the  material  relating  thereto  -as  remnants  of 
the  latter,  and  treated  it  as  such  (Zikron,  V,  32-38,  60-132).  This 
theory  has  been  fully  disproved  by  Bacher  (RE J.,  XXIV,  307  ff.)  and 
others,  and  Harkavy  himself  subsequently  modified  his  views 
(Ha-Goren,  VI,  30). 

^My  statement  (JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  Ill  (1912-1913),  p.  494,  n.  25) 
that  "  nothing  "  has  been  preserved  of  this  work  is  to  be  corrected 
accordingly. 

^  Hebrew  authors,  as  Dumash  b.  Labrat,  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,  and 
others  quote  it  under  the  title  t^lPH  \W'?  DinV  OD^)  IDD,  or  IQD 
'>'12Vn  P^^  mnV  (nn^);  comp.  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  32,  n.  3; 
Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  60;  Bacher,  Lehen  iind  Werke  des  AhulwaUd. 
p.  91,  n.  3;  ^.  /.  E.  als  Grammatiker,  p.  18;  Anfange,  p.  39. 

^This  would  indicate  that  the  title  and  whatever  Arabic  there  is 
in  the  book  was  written  in  Arabic  characters  (see  note  305),  as  only 
in  these  sab'ina  (70)  can  be  read  for  tis'ina  (90),  the  words  being 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  141 

booklet  has  been  frequently  published  with  learned  notes.'*" 
In  addition  to  these  works  devoted  almost  entirely  to 
grammar  and  lexicography,  Saadia  wrote  occasionally  on 
the  same  subjects  in  some  of  his  other  works.  Especially  in 
his  Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yesirah  '"^  are  there  numerous 
passages  dealing  with  Hebrew  grammar.^"^ 

b)  Biblical  Exegesis 

Hebrew  philology  in  its  incipiency  was  not  regarded  as 
an  independent  discipline,  but  merely  as  an  auxiliary  science 
to  Bible-exegesis.  Saadia's  work  in  the  field  of  grammar 
and  lexicography  is  therefore  to  be  considered  only  as  the 
scientific  apparatus  for  the  main  object  of  his  studies,  the 
interpretation  of  the  Scriptures.  Indeed,  exegesis  was  the 
chief  occupation  of  Saadia's  life.  To  it  he  devoted  the 
greater  part  of  his  Hterary  activity.  In  all  probability  he 
began  while  he  was  still  in  Egypt,  to  make  translations 
of  Biblical  books  accompanied  with  commentaries  and  con- 
tinued this  work  in  the  following  periods  of  his  vicissi- 
tudinous  life,  changing,  correcting,  and  enlarging  the 
exegetical  portions  as  his  knowledge  increased.  His  transla- 
tion of  the  entire  Bible  into  Arabic,  the  first  '"*  to  be  made 

distinguishable  only  through  diacritical  points,  which  may  have  been 
missing;  see,  however,  Geiger,  Wiss.  Zeitschrift,  V,  324;  Peritz, 
MGWJ.,  1899,  p.  51 ;  see  also  as  regards  the  real  number  of  the  words 
Steinschneider,  CB.,  2196,  no.  29. 

^"^  See  the  Bibliography,  p.  307,  no.  3. 

*®  See  below,  p.  192. 

^"•''Most  of  the  grammatical  passages  in  the  Commentary  on  the 
Sefer  Yezirah,  however,  are  repetitions  from  the  Kutub  al-Lugah;  see 
above,  note  297.  A  grammatical  work  of  Saadia  on  punctuation, 
nnyO  ^^  tip  J,  is  quoted  by  Rashi  on  Psalms,  45,  10,  but  it  is  not 
certain  that  it  was  a  separate  work.  It  probably  formed  a  part  of  the 
Kutub  al-Lugah;  comp.  Bacher,  Anfdnge,  p.  60,  n.  2,  and  Stein- 
schneider, Vorlesungen  iibcr  die  Kunde  hebrdischer  Handschriften, 
Leipzig,  1897,  p.  15. 

"^  It  is  true  that  an  Arabic  translation  of  the  Bible  is  said  to  have 
'been  prepared  prior  to  Saadia  by  the  Christian  scholar  Honein  b. 
'Ishak  (809-873).  This  translation,  however,  was  not  made  from 
the   Hebrew   text  but  either  from  the  Greek  or  the   Syriac;   see 


14^  SAADIA  GAON 

directly  from  the  original  (Masoretic)  text,  ushered  in 
a  new  epoch  in  the  history  of  civilization  in  general  and 
of  the  Jews  in  particular.  As  the  Septuagint  in  ancient 
times  was  instrumental  in  blending  Greek  and  Jewish 
thought  into  what  is  known  as  Hellenism,  subsequently 
giving  rise  to  the  Christian  religion ;  and  as  Mendelssohn's 
German  translation  of  the  Bible  in  recent  times  intro- 
duced the  new  literary  era  of  modern  Jewry;  so  Saadia's 
Arabic  translation  and  his  interpretation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, paved  the  way  for  the  glorious  Spanish- Arabic  period 
during  which  the  Jews  again  became  the  mediators  between 
the  Orient  and  the  Occident,  and  themselves  made  original 
contributions  to  all  branches  of  mediaeval  science. 

Saadia's  translation  has  become  the  standard  Arabic  Bible 
for  all  the  Arabic-speaking  Jews  and  for  the  Christian 
scholarly  world  down  to  the  present  time.  According  to 
Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,^**"  Saadia  wrote  the  translation  in  Arabic 
characters,  contrary  to  the  general  practice  of  Jewish  au- 
thors, who  wrote  Arabic  in  Hebrew  characters.  His  object 
was  in  all  probability  to  make  the  Bible  intelligible  to  Muham- 
medans  as  well  as  to  Jews  who  had  not  sufficient  learning 

Stelnschneider,  JQR.,  XII,  498,  n.  2,  where  further  references  are 
given.  For  Saadia's  acquaintance  with  some  of  Honein's  works  see 
below,  note  532.  For  a  supposed  translation  of  the  Bible  into  Arabic 
by  Abiii  Kathir,  the  teacher  of  Saadia,  see  Steinschneider,  AL.,  §  23. 
A  recent  attempt  to  disprove  Saadia's  priority  as  translator  {JQR., 
N.  S.,  vol.  IV  (1913-1914),  pp.  537  f.)  is  based  on  too  puerile  argu- 
ments to  require  discussion. 

^"^  See  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra's  Commentary  on  Genesis,  2,  11.  The 
question  was  often  disputed,  but  it  is  now  generally  assumed  that 
Saadia  wrote  all  his  Arabic  works  in  Arabic  characters,  which  were 
subsequently  changed  by  the  copyists  into  Hebrew  characters;  see 
for  the  hterature  on  the  subject  Steinschneider,  JQR.,  XII,  613-616; 
comp.  Kaufmann,  Attributenlehre,  p.  89,  n.  150;  Ewald,  Beitrdge,  p.  5  ; 
Landauer's  Introduction  to  the  Kitdb  al-Amdndt,  pp.  xii  ff.  Among 
the  many  Genizah  fragments  of  Saadia's  writings  I  know  only  one 
in  Arabic  characters:  Schechter,  Saadyana,  no.  xlix,  p.  132;  comp. 
the  Bibliography,  III,  p.  347,  no.  5. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  143 

to  understand  the  original.'^  This  is  fully  in  keeping  with 
what  is  generally  recognized  as  the  characteristic  features  of 
Saadia's  exegesis.  His  chief  thought  was  to  make  the 
Bible  a  book  accessible  to  all ;  to  present  the  Scriptures  in  a 
rational,  intelligible  form.  Hence  he  does  not  always  bind 
himself  to  the  rules  of  the  Masorah,  to  grammar,  or  to  com- 
mon usage ;  but,  aiming  at  the  greatest  possible  clearness  and 
consistency,  often  disregards  all  difficulties  arising  from 
rule  and  custom.  He  does  not  hesitate  to  insert  words  and 
phrases,  or  to  divide  and  connect  verses  and  sentences  in  his 
own  way,  when  necessary  to  convey  to  the  reader  the  intended 
sense.^"'  To  this  extent  his  translation  is  at  the  same 
time  an  interpretation,  and  Saadia,  being  himself  well 
aware  of  the  fact,  called  it  tafsir,  which  means  both  com- 
mentary and  translation.^*    His  work,  however,  is  far  from 

^•^  See  Landauer's  hitroduction  to  the  Kitab  al-Amamt,  p.  xii ; 
Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  p.  85,  nn.  i,  2,  where  more  references  are  given. 
Of  interest  in  this  connection  is  an  Arabic  passage  quoted  by  Merx, 
Die  Saadjanische  Uehersetzung  des  Hohen  Liedes,  Heidelberg,  1882, 
p.  5,  n.  I.  In  his  Introduction  to  the  translation  of  the  Pentateuch 
(ed.  Derenbourg,  p.  4)  Saadia  states  that  he  undertook  the  work  at 
the  request  of  some  [Israelites],  who  asked  him  to  do  so,  "  in  order 
that  they  might  understand  the  meaning  of  the  Torah,"  which  like- 
wise goes  to  show  that  in  the  time  and  country  of  Saadia  Arabic  was 
better  understood  than  Hebrew  by  the  Jews  in  general ;  comp.  JQR., 
X,  256,  n.  2. 

^"  Instances  are  altogether  too  numerous  to  be  here  adduced.  They 
were  collected  by  various  authors  to  some  of  whom  reference  may 
here  be  made:  Dukes,  Beitrdge,  II,  85  ff. ;  Poznanski,  MGWJ.,  1902, 
p.  370,  and  lately  L.  Bardowicz  in  his  interesting  work  Die  Abfas- 
sungszcit  der  Baraita  der  32  Normen,  Berlin,  1913,  pp.  102-107.  A 
striking  example  of  the  liberty  Saadia  took  in  transposing  the  verses 
in  order  to  get  the  desired  sense  is  found  in  his  Commentary  on 
Proverbs  (ed.  Derenbourg,  p.  51),  where  the  verses  10-12  are  taken 
from  the  middle  of  chapter  9  and  placed  at  the  end  thereof,  so  as  to 
get  the  proper  contrast  between  the  honest  and  dishonest,  as  described 
there,  vv.  1-9,  13-18. 

""*  See  Munk,  Notice  sur  Saadia,  p.  5,  n.  i ;  Steinschneider,  CB., 
2182;  Bacher,  REJ.,  XXXIX  206,  no.  8;  idem,  JE.,  X,  583;  Poznan- 
ski, Schechter's  Saadyana,  p.  21,  no.  2;  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  pp.  138, 
n.  2;  180,  n.  6;  JQR.,  XIII,  61,  no.  77-    See  also  JE.,  Ill,  166,  189. 


144  SAADIA  GAON 

being  a  paraphrase.  Saadia  took  liberties  only  when  he 
found  it  necessary  to  clear  away  obscurities;  otherwise  he 
followed  the  Scriptural  text  word  for  word/"' 

Another  characteristic  of  Saadia's  translation  is  the 
anxious  elimination  of  all  anthropomorphisms.^"  In  this 
matter  Saadia  was  not  an  innovator ;  he  followed  the  so- 
called  "  Targum  Onkelos,"  "'  the  ancient  Aramaic  translation 
of  the  Pentateuch;  but  he  went  far  beyond  his  model.  This 
often  led  him  to  quite  arbitrary  assumptions  as  to  the  possible 
meaning  of  certain  Hebrew  words. 

From  the  Targum  he  adopted  also  the  method  of  translat- 
ing the  numerous  proper  names  occurring  in  the  Bible,  par- 
ticularly those  designating  tribes  or  nations  and  places.^ 
Here,  too,  he  "  bettered  the  example."    Abraham  Ibn  Ezra  "^^ 

^*^  Comp.  Hartwig  Derenbourg's  Introduction  to  the  edition  of 
Job,  p.  xi. 

'"Here  again  no  attempt  can  be  made  at  gathering  the  many 
hundreds  of  instances  that  evidence  Saadia's  efforts  to  remove  the 
anthropomorphic  and  anthropopathic  conceptions  of  God  as  they 
appear  in  the  Scriptures.  I  refer  the  reader  to  the  numerous  works 
quoted  below  in  the  Bibliography,  I,  pp.  328  f.,  to  which  may  be  added 
Bacher,  Die  Bibelexegese  der  jiidischen  Religionsphilosophen  des 
Mittelalters  vor  Maimuni,  Strassburg,  1892,  pp.  I-z^4.  According  to 
Guttmann  {Die  Religionsphilosophie  des  Abraham  Ibn  Daud,  p.  31) 
the  "  Commentator  "  blamed  by  Ibn  Daud  {Emunah  Ramah,  p.  89) 
for  not  having  gone  far  enough  in  removing  anthropomorphic  ideas 
from  the  Scriptures  through  philosophic  interpretations,  is  none  other 
than  Saadia ;  comp.  below,  note  607,  end. 

'"  Saadia's  relation  to  the  Targum  has  likewise  been  fully  discussed 
in  many  of  the  works  and  articles  referred  to  in  the  preceding  note, 
especially  by  Munk,  Geiger,  Dukes  {Beitrage,  II,  81,  n.  4),  and 
Bacher;  comp.  the  latter's  Abraham  Ibn  Esra's  Einleitung  zu  seinem 
Pentateuch-Commentar,  Vienna,  1876,  p.  2>d>'i  Schmiedl,  MGWJ., 
1902,  pp.  84-88,  358-361 ;  S.  Galliner,  Saadia  Al-fajjumVs  arabische 
Psalmeniibersetsung,  p.  10,  n.  2. 

"^  For  the  literature  on  this  point  see  in  particular  Dukes,  Beitrdge, 
II,  48-58;  Bacher,  Abraham  Ibn  Esra's  Einleitung  zu  seinem  Penta- 
teuch-Commentar, pp.  33-36.  The  translation  of  proper  names  has 
also  been  observed  in  the  fragments  of  Aquila  (Reider,  Prolegomena 
to  a  Greek-Hebrew  and  Hebrezv-Greek  Index  to  Aquila,  1916,  p.  20.) 

^"Commentary  on  Genesis,  2,  11;  4,  19;  comp,  Dukes  and  Bacher, 
as  quoted  in  the  preceding  note. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  145 

severely  criticizes  Saadia's  procedure  in  this  matter,  but  sug- 
gests as  a  possible  excuse  that  the  translation  was  intended 
also  for  Muhammedans,  who,  if  they  found  a  large  number 
of  words  untranslated,  might  say  that  the  Bible  contains  laws 
which  the  Jews  themselves  ^"  do  not  understand. 

Among  other  peculiarities  of  Saadia's  translation  may  be 
mentioned  the  frequent  rendition  of  Hebrew  words  by  Ara- 
bic words  of  similar  sound,  even  when  the  latter  do  not  pos- 
sess exactly  the  meaning  required  by  the  Hebrew  text/^^ 

It  is  characteristic  of  Saadia's  zeal  in  his  work  on  the 
Bible  that  he  prepared  a  double  translation  of  most,  if  not  all, 
of  the  books.  The  first,  associated  with  an  extensive  Com- 
mentary (in  Arabic  shark)  was  intended  for  learned  readers. 
The  other,  called  tafsir,  rendered  the  text  in  a  form  intel- 
ligible to  the  general  public,  as  described  above. 

The  significance  of  Saadia  as  a  Bible  exegete,  however, 
comes  into  light  more  through  his  Bible  commentaries  than 
through  his  translations.  A  detailed  characterization  of 
Saadia's  exegesis,  as  it  appears  in  these  commentaries,  is 
not  within  the  scope  of  the  present  work.  In  general  it 
should  be  pointed  out  however,  that  Saadia's  special  merit 
as  an  exegete  lies  in  his  philosophic  handling  of  the  material. 
He  did  not  merely  translate  and  comment  upon  the  passages 

^"  The  passage  is  misunderstood  by  Merx,  I.  c.  p.  5,  who  puts  the 
words  DlJyi^  ^^  into  the  mouth  of  the  Muhammedans. 

^^'  See  the  numerous  instances  collected  by  Munk,  Notice,  pp.  55-57; 
Geiger,  Wiss.  Zcitschrift,  V,  290;  H'aneberg  (as  quoted  in  the  Bihli- 
ography,  I,  319),  p.  369;  comp.  the  Introductions  to  the  editions  of  the 
Psalms  by  the  various  authors  quoted  in  the  Bibliography,  I,  pp. 
318  ff.,  and  Poznanski,  MGWJ.,  1902,  pp.  370  f.;  Merx,  Die  Saadja- 
nische  Uebersetzung  des  Hohcn  Liedes,  p.  13  (comp.  J.  Loevy,  MWJ., 
X,  34) .  The  tendency  to  render  Hebrew  words  by  like-sounding  words 
of  the  foreign  language  has  been  observed  also  in  the  Greek  trans- 
lation of  Aquila  (Briill,  Ben  Chananja,  VI,  300,  no.  8;  Reider,  /.  c, 
p.  26)  and  in  the  works  of  authors  later  than  Saadia ;  comp.  Bacher, 
Abraham  Ibn.  Esra's  Einleitung  zu  seinem  P entateiich-Commentar, 
p.  36;  J.  Loevy,  Libri  Kohelet  versio  arabica,  quam  composuit  Ibn 
Ghijath,  Leyden,  1884,  p.  24;  Kaufmann  in  Judah  b.  Barzillai's  tJ^lTD 
n^T'V"'  *1QD,  p.  2)2>^,  note  ad  paginam  66. 

10 


146  SAADIA  GAON 

of  the  Bible  in  their  order.  In  a  general  Introduction  to 
each  book  the  basic  principles  in  the  light  of  which  that 
book  was  to  be  viewed  as  a  whole,  were  laid  down,  its  con- 
tents briefly  summarized,  and  the  inner  connection  between 
its  various  portions  clearly  shown/'"  The  Introductions '"  to 
the  Pentateuch,  Job,  Proverbs,  and  the  Psalms  are  classic 
examples  in  this  respect.  To  some  books  of  the  Bible  he 
wrote  double  commentaries.^"  By  far  the  greatest  part  of 
the  translations  and  commentaries  is  unfortunately  lost. 

LITURGY 

As  in  all  other  branches  of  Jewish  learning,  so  in  liturgy 
Saadia  was  the  pioneer  and  pathfinder.  This  is  acknowl- 
edged by  the  many  eminent  authors  who  subsequently 
worked  in  this  field,  among  them  Maimonides.'^"  Actuated 
by  the  desire  to  strengthen  traditional  Judaism  against  the 
onslaughts  of  its  opponents,  such  as  the  Karaites  and  other 
schismatics,  and  realizing  the  necessity  of  enlightening  the 
scattered  members  of  the  Synagogue  on  all  essential  ques- 
tions of  their  religion,  it  would  have  been  surprising  if 
Saadia  had  not  devoted  attention  to  the  field  of  liturgy,  on 
which  the  dififerent  parties  in  Judaism  had  at  all  times  fought 
their  religious  battles.  Moreover,  liturgy  is  intimately  con- 
nected with  Halakah.  It  was,  therefore  of  vital  importance 
to  fix  the  ritual  in  conformity  with  Halakic  regulations.'** 

'^'  Comp.  Eppenstein,  Beitrage,  pp.  80  f .,  and  below,  Bibliography, 
PP-  308,  311,  319  f.  In  connection  with  Saadia's  Commentaries  it 
is  interesting  to  observe  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  designating  each 
book  by  a  special  title. 

^^  See  the  Bibliography,  under  the  respective  works,  pp.  308,  318-21. 

*"  Comp.  Eppenstein,  Beitrage,  p.  81. 

^^  Comp.  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  167, 

^^^  According  to  Ginzberg,  ZfhB.,  IX,  104-7,  Geonica,  I,  121,  167, 
n.  I,  Saadia  wrote  the  Siddur  for  the  congregations  of  his  native 
country,  Egypt.  This  may  be  accepted  as  a  fact  on  the  basis  of  the 
proofs  adduced  there  by  Ginzberg,  as  well  as  on  general  grounds 
(comp.  Elbogen,  Der  jiidische  Gottesdienst  in  seiner  geschichtlichen 
Entimcklung,  Leipzig,  1913,  p.  361).  It  is  not  proved,  however,  that 
the  work  was  undertaken  at  the  request  of  these  congregations. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  147 

Saadia,  therefore,  set  about  the  task  of  arranging  a  com- 
plete "  Order  of  Prayers  "  for  the  whole  year,  embodying 
therein,  besides  all  of  the  ancient  and  generally  accepted 
standard  prayers,  many  Hturgical  productions  of  famous 
synagogue  poets,  as  well  as  various  pieces  of  his  own  com- 
position. Some  compilations  of  prayers  had  existed  prior 
to  the  time  of  Saadia,^^  notably  the  ritual  of  the  Sura  Gaon 
Amram  b.  Sheshna  (856),  commonly  known  as  the  "  Order 
of  R.  Amram,"  with  a  history  of  its  own,  the  influence  of 
which  on  the  development  of  Jewish  liturgy  throughout  the 
Middle  Ages  has  been  by  far  greater  than  that  of  the  ritual 
composed  by  Saadia.  But  aside  from  its  small  intrinsic  value 
as  a  literary  production,  the  work  of  Amram,  on  account  of 
its  unusual  popularity,  underwent  such  radical  changes  at 
the  hands  of  later  generations,  that  it  is  impossible  to  say 
what  its  original  form  was,  and  how  much  or  how  little  of 
its  present  content  can  be  attributed  to  the  editor  whose  name 
it  bears.  It  is  even  questionable  whether  Amram  had  any 
share  in  compiling  the  ritual,  except  for  the  Halakic  rules 
and  regulations  embodied  therein,  which  themselves  are  not 
free  from  later  interpolations.^^''  Compared  with  the  work 
of  Saadia  the  Order  of  Amram,  even  in  its  present  aug- 
mented form,  sinks  into  insignificance.  Saadia  may,  there- 
fore, properly  be  designated  as  the  first  scientific  author  in 
the  field  of  Hturgy,  though  the  compilation  by  his  predecessor 
may  have  been  of  some  use  to  him.  Saadia  did  not  merely 
collect  the  existing  prayers  and  arrange  them  in  a  particular 
order  for  private  and  synagogue  use,  as  is  commonly  done 
by  editors  of  prayer-books,  but,  following  his  general  method 
in  other  branches  of  literature,  he  made  the  whole  traditional 

'"As  early  as  in  the  middle  of  the  9th  century  an  order  of  the 
"Hundred  Benedictions"  (niDIl  Ht^D  ITD),  the  number  recom- 
mended in  the  Talmud  (Menahot,  43^)  for  daily  recital,  was  com- 
piled by  the  Suran  Gaon  Natronai  b.  Hilai  (853),  which  was  recently 
published  by  Ginzberg  from  a  Genizah  MS.  (Geonica,  II,  114-iig)  ; 
comp.  for  further  details  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  1 19-123;  Elbogen, 
i-  C;  PP-  358  f .,  56s,  no.  4. 

^^Comp.  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  144;  Elbogen,  pp.  359  f. 


148  SAADIA  GAON 

liturgy  the  subject  of  scientific  investigation.  In  an  elab- 
orate Introduction  he  showed  the  significance  and  neces- 
sity of  prayer,  its  foundation  in  reason  i'?^^),  and  in  the 
books  of  Holy  Writ  (nin3),  and  the  historic  development 
of  the  dififerent  prayers  during  past  generations  (^niP^). 
He  also  took  into  consideration  the  various  practices  of  com- 
munities and  individuals  in  including  or  omitting  certain 
prayers,  and  in  each  case  expressed  his  opinion  as  to  the 
permissibility  of  such  customs,  stating  the  reasons  for  or 
against  the  reciting  of  a  given  prayer.  To  whatever  section 
of  the  book  one  turns,  he  finds  the  masterful  hand  of  the 
scientific,  logical  systematizer  and  classifier,  whose  chief 
concern  is  to  bring  the  scattered  material  under  some  gen- 
eral head  or  heads,  so  that  the  student  shall  get  a  clear  per- 
spective of  the  whole  subject  under  consideration.  Thus, 
for  instance,  in  taking  up  the  numerous  short  benedictions 
(berakot)  he  would  first,  by  way  of  introduction,  divide 
them  into  several  classes :  such  as  benedictions  that  are 
occasioned  by  the  obligatory  performance  of  a  Biblical  or 
rabbinical  law,  benedictions  prescribed  before  the  voluntary 
partaking  of  the  good  things  of  this  world,  which  aflford 
either  bodily  or  mental  pleasure,  and  so  forth.^"^ 

The  ritual  itself  he  divides  into  two  main  parts,  the  one 
comprising  prayers  for  every  day,  the  other  those  for  Sab- 
bath, New-moon,  Feasts  and  Fast-days.  Each  of  these  prin- 
cipal divisions  is  again  subdivided  into  two  parts,  the  one 
dealing  with  the  prayers  of  the  individual,  the  other  with 
those  of  the  community  in  the  synagogue.  In  connection 
with  these  prayers  he  discusses  the  Halakic  points  bearing 
on  them,  quoting,  or  tacitly  basing  his  decisions  on,  passages 
in  both  the  Palestinian  and  Babylonian  Talmudim.^'* 

^  For  all  the  details  here  given  see  Steinschneider,  Neubauer,  and 
Bondi,  as  quoted  in  the  Bibliography,  II,  pp.  329  f. 

^^  Saadia  himself  (quoted  by  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2205)  states 
explicitly  that  he  will  not  quote  all  the  passages  in  Mishnah  and 
Talmud  on  which  he  bases  his  views.  This  tendency  to  avoid  as  far 
as  possible  quotations  from  rabbinical  literature  is  observable  in  other 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  I49 

As  already  noted,  Saadia  incorporated  in  his  Order 
numerous  liturgical  productions  of  eminent  synagogue 
poets,  for  example,  the  famous  'Abodah  (hymn  for  the 
Musaf-prayer  of  the  Day  of  Atonement)  of  the  Spanish 
ritual  (nJJlD  nriN)  and  another  one  by  the  Payyetan  Jose  b. 
Jose  (n^«  nnina  1^3T«),  a  selection  of  Hoshanot  (hymns 
for  the  feast  of  Tabernacles),  Tehinnot,  and  Selihot 
(penitential  prayers),  many  of  which  are  not  preserved  else- 
where.'" Here  again  he  introduces  the  various  composi- 
tions by  valuable  remarks  relative  to  their  place  in  the  syna- 
gogue service  and  their  importance  there. 

Great  as  was  Saadia  in  the  field  of  liturgy  as  the  first 
scientific  collector,  systematizer,  and  expounder  of  the 
ancient  material,  his  efforts  did  not  stop  here.  He  had  begun, 
it  seems,  in  early  life  to  write  religious  poetry  for  private  as 
well  as  communal  use.  His  first  work,  the  'Agron,  was  in- 
tended, as  we  have  seen,  to  facilitate  versification.  An  enthu- 
siastic devotee  of  the  Synagogue,  and  prompted  by  deep 
religious  feeling,  he  endeavored  to  enhance  the  divine  ser- 
vice by  numerous  liturgical  compositions  of  his  own.  He 
wrote  synagogue  poetry  of  nearly  all  the  forms  and  descrip- 
tions in  vogue  in  his  time.  He  himself  informs  us  that  he 
composed  a  large  number  of  'Abodot  for  the  Day  of  Atone- 
ment, but  chose  to  embody  only  one  in  his  Order  because, 
he  says,  it  was  the  shortest.''^  He  likewise  wrote  numerous 
Hoshanot,  aside  from  those  incorporated  into  his  ritual. 
These,  however,  have  not  all  been  preserved.'" 

writings  of  Saadia  (see  below,  note  461 ;  Miiller,  Oeuvres,  IX,  p.  x ; 
Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  166),  and  the  reason  in  each  case  is  that  the 
works  were  intended  also  for  the  Karaites,  for  whom  that  liter- 
ature had  no  authority. 
^'  See  the  enumeration  in  the  Bibliography,  II,  pp.  330-335- 
''*  See  Bondi,  Der  Siddur  des  Rabbi  Saadia  Gaon,  Frankfurt  a.  M., 
1904,  p.  38. 

'"Comp.  Halberstam,  MGWJ.,  1895,  PP-  m  f-,  and  below,  Bibli- 
ography, II,  p.  2,ZZ,  no.  5- 


150  SAADIA  GAON 

Among  the  species  of  poetiy  cultivated  by  Saadia  his 
'Azharot  (exhortations)^"^  deserve  special  mention.  They 
contain  119  four-membered  strophes,  dealing  in  ten  groups — 
according  to  the  Ten  Commandments — with  the  613  precepts 
of  the  Bible.  They  were  no  doubt  intended  to  be  recited  in 
the  synagogue.'''^  On  the  same  subject  he  composed  also  a 
lengthy  didactic  poem,^"  in  six  sections  of  twenty-two  double 
Hnes  each,  corresponding  to  the  letters  of  the  Hebrew  alpha- 
bet. One  section  gives  the  alphabet  acrostically  in  its  usual 
order,  and  the  next  in  its  inverted  order  (P^nti^n),  the  last 
section  containing,  besides,  the  acrostic:  "  Sa'id  {'^^V^)  ben 
Joseph  'Alluf,"^'  which  proves  that  the  poem  was  written 
between  the  years  922-928,  when,  as  we  saw  in  chapter  three, 
Saadia  occupied  the  position  of  an  'Alluf  in  the  Sura 
academy.  We  must  likewise  assume  that  the  'Azhdrot,  were 
composed  during  that  period,  for  it  has  been  discovered  that 
the  first  line  has  the  same  numerical  value  (469)  as  jn  Tiyo 
^I^K  ^D1\^'  The  last  section  of  the  'Azharot,  however,  has 
only  the  acrostic  ''  Sa'id  ben  Joseph,"  without  'Alluf. 

Apart  from  these  pieces,  which,  owing  to  their  consider- 
able proportions,  may  be  regarded  as  separate  works,  though 
they  were  embodied  in  his  Siddiir,  Saadia  is  known  to  have 
composed  a  large  number  of  Penitential  Prayers  {Tehinnot 

^Bibliography,  II,  p.  331,  no.  3. 

^'"  See  Miiller,   Oeuvres,  IX,  p.  xviii,  bottom. 

^Bibliography,  II,  p.  330,  no.  2. 

^^  See  Miiller,  Oeuvres,  IX,  67,  n.  11;  in  Zunz,  Literaturgeschichte, 
p.  94, 1.  4,  read  sechste  for  erste. 

""'Rapoport,  in  Ti^Dn^  HQIVn,  volume  VI  (1862),  325,  see  below, 
note  :i)2>^,  and  for  a  similar  signature  of  Saadia  in  another  composition, 
below,  p.  336,  no.  4;  comp.  in  particular  Rapoport's  Biography  of 
Kalir,  note  12,  where  numerous  instances  from  the  latter's  Piyyutim 
are  quoted,  in  which  the  author  has  signed  his  name  by  using  words 
that  have  the  same  numerical  value.  Saadia  took  Kalir  as  a  model 
in  some  other  respects  also;  see  above,  p.  139  and  below,  p.  184.  It 
should  be  noted  in  passing  that  the  recently  discovered  portion  of 
Saadia's  Polemic  against  Hiwi,  which  was  written  about  927  likewise 
bears  the  acrostics  ^I^K  T^yO  and  H^D  t*^K1  "f^yO;  see  Davidson, 
Saadia's  Polemic  against  Hiwi,  New  York,  1915,  p.  34  f. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  151 

and  Selihot),  some  of  which,  in  addition  to  those  incorpor- 
ated into  the  Siddur,  have  come  to  hght  only  recently  from 
the  Genizah.  From  the  same  source  came  also  an  important 
Tokehah  (Admonition)  of  eighty-eight  lines,  containing  a 
fourfold  alphabet  in  the  acrostic/'^ 

All  these  productions  disclose  Saadia's  great  imaginative 
power,  and  testify  to  his  astounding  mastery  of  the  Hebrew 
language  in  writing  verse.  It  is  true  that  for  our  taste 
today,  his  verses  are  too  artificial  for  poetic  beauty.  More- 
over, his  lines  are  often  so  obscure  as  to  defy  interpretation. 
This  is  not  due  to  the  inefficiency  of  the  author  in  the  use  of 
the  Hebrew  language,  but  to  the  erroneous  conception  of 
style  and  rhetoric,  prevalent  among  the  Arabs  and  Jews  of 
those  times.  It  was  thought  that  the  more  uncommon  and 
obscure  the  words  one  was  able  to  gather  and  weave  into  a 
composition,  the  more  remarkable  was  his  literary  perform- 
ance, and  therefore  the  greater  its  merit.  Authors  would 
exhaust  themselves  in  the  search  for  the  most  out-of-the-way 
forms  and  phrases,  and  these  would  often  be  used  in  viola- 
tion of  all  rules  of  grammar  and  syntax,  thus  making  the 
verse  or  the  rhymed  prose  largely  unintelligible,  or  at  least 
mystifying.^^*  In  his  poetical  productions  Saadia  followed 
this  style  to  excess.  He  indulged  in  the  most  arbitrary 
formations  of  nouns  and  verbs,  outdoing  therein  even  some 
of  the  old  Palestinian  Payyetanim,  by  whom  he  was  greatly 
influenced. 

This  general  predilection  for  rare  and  abstruse  words 
was  accompanied  by  a  fondness  for  all  sorts  of  artificial 
rhymes,  acrostics  of  names  and  alphabets,  catch-words  from 
Biblical  passages,  and  the  like.  Such  overloading  of  the  verses 
produced  obscurity.     But  these  performances  were  admired, 

^See  the  Bibliography,  II,  p.  334;  338,  no.  8.  For  the  origin  of 
acrostics  in  general  see  Steinschneider,  Vorlesungen  Uber  die  Kunde 
hebrdischer  Handschriften,  p.  3. 

^'*  Comp.  Zunz,  Synagogale  Poesie,  pp.  117,  119;  M.  Sachs,  in  V31P 
D^Jimp  D"'J'lt<3  n^  '^^V}:)  (ed.  Rosenberg),  pp.  84  f.;  especially  the 
references  in  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  45,  n.  7;  comp.  also  Bardowicz, 
Die  Abfassungszeit  der  Baraita  der  32  Normen,  p.  62,  n.  2. 


152  SAADIA  GAON 

because  it  was  considered  that  they  demonstrated  the  ex- 
traordinary skill  and  resourcefulness  of  the  author  in  the 
handling  of  the  language.  To  point  out  only  one  instance  in 
Saadia's  productions,  we  may  cite  his  Introduction  (nnTiS) 
to  the  'Azharot^^^  It  contains  fifteen  four-membered 
strophes  following  the  order  of  the  alphabet.  Each  line  of 
a  strophe  begins  with  a  letter  of  the  alphabet  and  rhymes 
with  the  other  three  lines.  In  addition,  the  first  line  of  each 
strophe  is  preceded  by  a  word  from  Ps.  68.  8  fif.  (in  consecu- 
tive order),  which  is  more  or  less  suggestive  of  the  idea  con- 
tained in  the  strophe,  while  the  third  line  is  led  in  the  same 
way  by  the  first  word  of  each  consecutive  verse  from  Can- 
ticles.^** Besides  all  this,  the  author  has  managed  to  work 
his  name  into  the  first  line  by  an  arithmetical  device.^"'  The 
last  six  strophes  go  far  beyond  even  this,  the  lines  being 
divided  into  hemistichs  with  the  same  rhyme  and  double 
acrostics.  In  the  'AzMrot  proper  a  similarly  artificial  sys- 
tem is  adhered  to  throughout. 

With  such  complexity  of  the  technic,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  the  author  could  not  attain  to  beauty  or  even  to  any 
degree  of  clearness.  No  writer  who  subjects  himself  to  such 
unreasonable  restrictions  can  accomplish  anything  but  a  sort 

^  For  other  instances,  see  Elbogen,  Studien,  pp.  64,  82  f , ;  comp. 
Landshuth,  mnvn  niDj;,  pp.  288  f . 
^  By  way  of  illustration  I  give  here  the  first  strophe : 

Dnint?  PD  •>"«! 

The  word  D''n^«  (Ps.  68.8)  is  the  leader  of  the  strophe.  The 
first  line,  beginning  ^VK,  has  the  numerical  value  of  PlD")^  p  "I^VD 
?1'|^K=:469.  The  word  T'{^( Canticles,  i.  i)  leads  the  third  line  and 
can  be  read  together  therewith.  The  strophe  is  followed  by  the 
eulogy  of  the  first  benediction  of  the  daily  prayer,  to  which  the  fourth 
line  contains  an  allusion  in  the  word  pQ^.  For  the  meaning  of  the 
whole  see  the  commentary  ad  locum. 

^^  See  above,  note  332. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  i53 

of  literary  hotchpotch.  Even  the  'Azhdrot  of  Solomon  Ibn 
Gabirol,  the  greatest  poet  of  the  Synagogue,  fall  short,  for 
similar  reasons,  of  the  sublimity  often  attained  by  this 
author."^'  Where  Saadia  did  not  resort  to  such  artificial 
means,  as  for  instance,  in  the  aforementioned  poem  on  the 
613  precepts  or  in  the  recently  discovered  Tokehah  and 
in  the  Polemic  against  Hiwi,''"  his  verses  are  on  the  whole 
clear  and  smooth,  though  they  never  rise  to  the  heights  of 
poetic  beauty. 

Taken  all  in  all,  Saadia's  attainments  as  a  synagogue  poet 
cannot  be  rated  very  high.  But  he  has  written  some  prayers 
in  plain  Hebrew  prose,  which,  in  grace  and  purity  of  style 
and  in  the  fervency  of  religious  emotion,  rank  among  the 
best  the  Synagogue  has  ever  produced.  Two  of  these, 
called  Bakkashot  (supplications),  have  been  adopted,  wholly 
or  partly,  into  various  rituals.  They  may  be  considered  as 
classics.^  The  one,  beginning  "  Thou  art  the  Lord,  Thou 
alone,"  was  destined  by  the  author  for  Sabbaths  and  Feasts ; 
and  the  other,  beginning  "  To-day,  too,  I  know  ....  that 
the  Lord  is  God,"  for  Fast-days.  An  Arabic  version  of 
the  latter  was  made  by  Saadia  himself,  and  a  later  author, 
a  certain  Zemah  b.  Joshua,  translated  the  former  into  the 
same  language.^'  Both  translations  are  found  in  Saadia's 
Ritual  along  with  the  Hebrew  originals.  Maimonides,^''  who 
was  not  too  well-disposed  towards  prayers  proceeding  from 
the  schools  of  the  Geonim,  recommended  these  prayers  of 
Saadia  for  recital  on  the  Eve  of  New  Year's  Day ;  and  Abra- 
ham Ibn  Ezra  in  his  famous  criticism  of  Kalir^"  expresses 

"'*  Comp.  Landshuth,  miiyn  niOV,  p.  292. 

^  See  the  Bibliography,  II,  p.  338,  no.  8;  VI,  pp.  384  ff. 

**  For  all  details  see  the  Bibliography,  II,  pp.  331  ff. 

'"  See  Steinschneider,  JQR,,  XII,  485 ;  AL.,  §  234 ;  Landshuth,  /.  c, 
p.  287. 

^"  In  a  passage  from  an  Arabic  MS.  Responsum,  quoted  by  Stein- 
schneider, CB.,  2214;  comp.  also  D'^IOIH  nniEJTl  miP  (Leipzig, 
1859),  I,  no.  128;  Zunz,  Literaturgeschichte,  p.  96,  no.  6;  Bondi,  p.  18. 

*''  In  his  Commentary  on  Kohelet,  5,  i ;  comp.  Zunz  Synagogalc 
Poesie,  p.  117,  top;  Landshuth,  /.  c,  p.  293. 


154  SAADIA  GAON 

himself  with  reference  to  them  in  the  following  words: 
"  The  Gaon  R.  Saadia  in  his  two  Bakkashot,  the  like  of  which 
no  author  ever  composed,  guarded  himself  against  these 
four  blunders  [of  Kalir].  His  prayers  are  written  in  the 
language  of  the  Bible,  with  due  regard  to  grammar,  without 
obscurities  and  metaphors,  and  without  the  use  of  Midrash." 
Bahya  Ibn  Palaidah  ^"  likewise  quotes  approvingly  a  passage 
from  the  first  BakkasMh,  although,  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  he  does  not  mention  the  author  by  name 
but  refers  to  him  as  "  one  of  the  worthies."  Owing  to  its 
simplicity  in  style  and  to  the  deep  religious  fervor  that 
breathes  through  its  lines,  most  of  the  second  Bakkashah, 
with  some  later,  and  even  older,  additions,  has  found  its  way 
into  the  Penitential  Prayers  (Selihot)  for  the  Eve  of  New 
Year,  and  in  this  form  is  referred  to  in  mediaeval  literature  as 
the  '' Widdui  (Confession)  of  R.  Saadia."  There  is,  how- 
ever, another  short  composition  under  this  title,  which  is 
likewise  written  in  a  beautiful  Biblical  style.'^^  These  and 
other  pieces  assure  to  Saadia  a  place  of  honor  among  the 
best  liturgical  writers  of  the  Synagogue. 

Here,  perhaps,  is  the  place  to  discuss  another  product  of 
Saadia's  art  of  versification,  though  it  does  not  strictly  be- 
long under  the  heading  of  liturgy.  It  is  his  "  Poem  on  the 
Number  of  the  Letters  "  (of  the  alphabet)  occurring  in  the 
Bible."^     It   consists   of  twenty-eight**^  quatrains,  twenty- 

^  Duties  of  the  Heart,  IV,  6,  end.  Luzzatto  first  identified  the 
passage  {Litter aturhlatt  des  Orie^its,  XII,  170;  comp.  Dukes,  Nahal 
Kedutnim,  pp.  2,  26;  Landshuth,  /.  c,  p.  293.  Yahuda  in  his  edition  of 
the  Arabic  original  of  Bahya's  Duties,  p.  224,  top,  does  not  realize 
that  Saadia  is  here  quoted;  comp.  Malter,  JQR.,  N.  S.  vol.  VII  (1916- 
1917),  p.  384. 

**"  See  the  Bibliography,  p.  333. 

^For  the  Hebrew  title  and  other  details  see  the  Bibliography, 
PP-  339  ff-  According  to  Blau,  JQR.,  VIII,  352,  the  poem  gives  only 
the  number  of  letters  occurring  in  the  Prophets  and  Hagiographa, 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  Pentateuch;  see  Marx,  Journal  of  Biblical 
Literature,  XXXVIII  (1919),  24,  n.  3. 

^''  In  Schechter's  Saadyana,  no.  xxvi,  verso,  line  3,  the  letters  ''JD  are 
probably  to  be  corrected  to  t\j. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  I5S 

seven  for  the  letters  of  the  Hebrew  alphabet,  including  the 
five  final  letters,  and  one  additional  quatrain  for  the  letter 
taw,  the  last  in  the  alphabet.  The  purpose  of  the  whole  is  to 
show  how  many  times  each  of  the  letters  is  found  in  the 
Scriptures,  such  counting  having  been  commended  in  the 
Talmud  (Kiddushin,  30a).  The  manner  in  which  Saadia 
carries  out  this  Masoretic  task  is  extremely  artificial,  and 
cannot  be  here  described  in  all  its  details.^'*    The  first  word 

^^  As  no  description  can  give  an  adequate  idea  of  the  technicalities 
of  this  poem,  I  subjoin,  as  an  illustration,  the  first  stanza  of  the 
Hebrew  text  with  a  few  explanatory  remarks : 

nrno  "Ps^^n  ^D<DnM^Dni  \"v^  n!?«  n''»  id^d  nyn^i^i  n^vi^ 

D^Jtj'  "ipi  D^D^^^n  nnr^ioD^ty^i  din^d  sy^ty  d^q^x jonn  ynn« 

.>nt^'Dn  n^tr  ■•Jn  D^ti^nD  hk^dh  dniny  ntj^on  D-i^t? 

The  Aleph  of  ^Hi^  indicates  the  first  letter  in  the  Hebrew  alphabet, 
to  which  letter  the  first  quatrain  is  devoted;  the  letter  D  of  jIDD, 
numerically  equalling  40,  and  the  letter  1  of  ""J^Jl  equalling  2,  indi- 
cate the  number  42,200,  while  the  initial  letters  fyc^  of  the  second 
hemistich  equal  numerically  Z77'  We  thus  obtain  ^,Z77,  which  is 
the  number  of  times  the  Aleph  occurs  in  the  Bible.  The  word  'PT^^T) 
in  the  third  hemistich  alludes  to  the  verse  in  Ezra,  2,  46,  as  quoted  in 
the  "  Commentary,"  which  gives  in  words  the  number  42,360,  while 
the  word  n3T^"l  in  the  last  hemistich  recalls  the  verse  in  Numbers,  7, 
17,  which  contains  the  numbers  2  +  5  +  5  +  5  =  17;  the  two  verses 
thus  make  together  42,360+17  =  42,377,  which  again  indicates  the 
number  of  times  the  Aleph  is  found  in  the  Scriptures;  comp.  J. 
Derenbourg,  Manuel  du  lecteur,  in  Journal  Asiatique,  1870,  p.  546 
(separate  edition,  p.  238).  As  regards  the  custom  of  counting  the 
letters  in  the  Bible  and  as  to  the  correctness  of  Saadia's  computation 
see  the  exhaustive  studies  of  Ludwig  Blau,  JQR.,  VHI  (1896), 
343  ff.;  IX,  122-144,  471-490;  XVI  (1904),  ZS7-Z72',  comp.  also 
Schapira,  in  the  Athencoum,  1878,  Feb.  22,  no.  2626,  p.  253. 

In  English  the  above  quatrain  would  read  as  follows :  "  The  Tent 
{i.  e.  the  Temple),  the  foundation  of  my  structures,  whither  my 
ancestors  made  pilgrimage,  where  the  congregation  offered  my  sacri- 
fices, and  whither  my  children  came  for  the  sacrifice  of  thanks- 
giving." The  word  ^V  is  the  payyetanic  form  for  T]^V  often  used 
by  Saadia;  comp.  Derenbourg,  /.  c,  p.  447  (139),  n.  6. 


156  SAADIA  GAON 

of  each  quatrain  begins  acrostically  with  a  letter  of  the 
alphabet.  The  words  that  follow  in  the  first  two  hemistichs 
begin  with  letters  whose  numerical  value  corresponds  exactly 
to  the  number  of  times  the  letter  in  question  is  to  be  found 
in  the  Bible.  The  other  two  hemistichs  contain  each  a  word 
from  a  Biblical  verse  in  which  the  number  thus  indicated 
happens  to  occur.  The  language  of  this  mnemonic  poem  is 
very  enigmatic  and  obscure,  so  that  Saadia  himself  deemed 
it  necessary  to  add  to  each  quatrain  a  sort  of  "  Commentary," 
to  furnish  a  clue  to  its  interpretation.  I  assent  to  the  ascrip- 
tion of  this  Perush  to  Saadia  for  obvious  reasons.  It  does 
not  explain  the  stylistic  difficulties  and  the  real  meaning 
of  these  peculiar  verses.  It  merely  states  in  plain  words 
the  number  intended  by  the  text  and  also  quotes  in  full  the 
Biblical  verses  mysteriously  alluded  to.  I  do  not  believe 
that  anybody  except  the  author  himself  could  have  found 
the  key  to  this  riddle.  If  any  mediaeval  author  had  been  so 
fortunate  as  to  find  the  clue,  he  would  certainly  have  fur- 
nished us  with  an  extensive  commentary .^'^  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  this  composition  is  devoid  of  all  poetic  merit.  Nor 
is  it  probable  that  the  author  ever  intended  to  classify  it  as 
poetry.  His  object  was  to  assist  the  memory  by  arranging 
the  numbers  of  the  letters  in  artificial  rhymes.  There  is, 
however,  aside  from  this  didactic  purpose,  a  general  idea 
running  through  all  the  verses,  and  that  is  the  expression 
of  the  hope  that  the  Twelve  Tribes  of  Israel  will  be  freed 
from  their  captivity  and  return  to  the  sanctuary  at  Jerusa- 
lem.**"    It  is  in  keeping  with  this  idea  that  most  of  the  fifty- 

***The  anonymous  author  of  the  |N:i''nn  niHriD  actually  ascribes 
the  Commentary  to  Saadia;  comp.  Derenbourg,  Manuel  du  lecteur, 
P-  547  (separate  edition,  p.  239)  n.  i,  who,  however,  does  not  suffi- 
ciently emphasize  it,  as  the  words  ti'lDI  *^T^1  clearly  say  that  Saadia 
wrote  the  Perush.  It  should  be  noted  that,  as  Derenbourg-,  /.  c, 
remarks,  the  editions  as  well  as  the  MSS.  contain  only  the  second 
half  of  the  commentary  to  each  stanza,  which  gives  merely  the  respec- 
tive Biblical  verses,  while  the  first  half,  which  indicates  in  each 
case  the  intended  number,  is  to  be  found  only  in  the  ffc^^lTin  D^IDHD. 

""Derenbourg,  p.  548  (240).  Some  later  writers,  who  saw  no 
purpose  in  this  poem,  invented  a  curious  story  as  the  occasion  of  its 
composition,  for  which  see  below,  note  661. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  i57 

four  Biblical  verses  which  the  author  has  chosen  to  indicate 
the  numbers  contain  either  one  of  the  names  of  the  twelve 
sons  of  Jacob,  or  a  name  of  one  of  their  descendants,  or  have 
otherwise  some  bearing  on  the  restoration  of  Israel  and  of  its 
ancient  cult.^ 

HALAKAH 

The  study  of  the  Talmud  was  at  all  times  and  in  all 
countries  the  most  essential  part  of  Jewish  education.  The 
Talmud  was  the  only  subject  in  the  entire  range  of  Jewish 
knowledge  that,  as  we  should  say  to-day,  was  considered 
obligatory,  although  the  Jews  did  not  always  have  a  com- 
pulsory school  system  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word. 
It  was  a  religious  duty,  incumbent  upon  every  Jew,  to  study 
the  Torah,  and  Torah  meant  above  all  the  Talmud,  for  even 
the  Bible  was  to  be  studied  only  through  the  spectacles  of 
the  traditional  law,  its  commentary.  It  is  thus  only  in  quite 
recent  times  that  a  Jew,  though  he  be  a  rabbi,  may  lay  claim 
to  Jewish  scholarship  without  having  in  the  least  familiar- 
ized himself  with  the  Talmudic  literature.  All  Jewish  au- 
thors who  attained  to  prominence  in  other  fields  of  learning, 
such  as  philology,  philosophy,  or  even  medicine  and  as- 
tronomy, were  first  equipped  with  a  more  or  less  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  Talmud.  Only  then  did  they  indulge  their 
individual  inclinations  and  choose  their  respective  fields  of 
literary  activity.  Saadia,  the  future  Gaon,  was  no  exception 
to  this  rule.  The  study  of  the  Talmud  and,  as  far  as  it 
existed,  of  the  Halakic  literature  in  general,  was  one  of  his 
earliest  occupations.  We  are  not  in  a  position,  however, 
to  designate  any  of  his  numerous  Talmudic  works  as  be- 
longing to  the  earlier  period  of  his  life,  and  thus  being  the 
immediate  result  of  his  first  Talmudic  studies.  Nor  is  it  pos- 
sible to  assign  dates  and  periods  to  any  of  his  various  works 
on  Halakic  subjects.^'  On  general  grounds  it  may  be  as- 
sumed that  his  literary  activity  in  the  field  of  Halakah  began 

^'*  Comp.  Derenbourg,  p.  449  (141),  n.  I3- 

^^  See  above,  note.  293,  and  below,  note  376 ;  comp.  also  the  Bihli- 
ography,  III,  p.  345,  no.  3. 


158  SAADIA  GAON 

after  he  had  settled  in  Babylonia  as  a  member  of  the  acad- 
emy and  reached  its  height  during  his  occupancy  of  the 
Gaonate,  though  some  of  the  Halakic  treatises  on  single 
subjects,  to  be  mentioned  below,  may  date  from  an  earlier 
time.  It  was  hardly  necessary  for  Saadia  to  prove  his 
Talmudic  learning  by  great  Halakic  works  to  justify  his 
appointment  on  the  academic  staff.  He  was  known  to  the 
authorities  personally  and,  besides,  his  numerous  writings 
on  subjects  other  than  Halakah  as,  for  example,  his  polemics 
against  the  Karaites,  Ben  jMeir,  and  others,  showed  inciden- 
tally his  thorough  familiarity  with  the  literature  of  the 
Talmud. 

It  is  highly  regrettable  that  the  number  of  lost  Saadianic 
writings  is  largest  in  the  department  of  the  Halakah.  It  is 
in  this  department  more  than  in  any  other  that  Saadia's 
importance  in  his  capacity  as  Gaon  should  show  itself.  Of 
all  his  works  in  the  domain  of  the  Halakah  only  two  ^^^  have 
been  preserved  in  toto.  Of  some  others  ^  a  few  small  frag- 
ments were  recently  brought  to  Hght  from  the  Genizah, 
while  the  rest  are  known  only  by  their  titles,  or  from  quota- 
tions in  the  works  of  later  authors.  In  addition  there  are 
about  fifty  complete  Responsa  written  by  Saadia  to  various 
communities.  While  it  is  thus  impossible  to  appreciate  the 
full  extent  of  Saadia's  Halakic  activity,  we  can  see  from  what 
is  left,  that  in  this  field  as  in  all  others  Saadia  was  the  most 
important  author  among  the  Geonim.  Unlike  his  predeces- 
sors in  the  Gaonate,  v/ho  confined  themselves  to  issuing  legal 
decisions  or  to  writing  explanatory  notes  on  single  Talmudic 
passages,  he  viewed  the  literature  of  the  Talmud  in  its 
entirety.  To  it  he  applied  the  same  scientific  method  of 
sifting,  analyzing,  and  classifying  which  is  identified  with 
his  name  in  every  field  of  literary  endeavor.     He  grouped 

'^'Namely,  the  "Interpretation  of  the  13  Rules"  (see  below,  pp. 
159.  342)  and  the  "  Book  on  Inheritance"  (below,  pp.  163,  344).  We 
might  perhaps  count  also  the  so-called  Commentaries  on  Berdkot 
and  on  the  Order  of  Teharot,  for  which  see  below,  pp.  161,  342  ff. 

'"  Bibliography,  III,  pp.  345-347,  nos.  2-5. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  159 

and  arranged  its  contents  under  general  heads,  and  brought 
system  into  what  might  have  been  considered  an  irremediable 
chaos. 

Saadia's  work  in  the  field  of  Halakah  ma}^  be  divided  into 
three  main  parts:  (i)  Methodology;  (2)  Interpretation; 
and  (3)  Codification.^'*  Among  his  methodological  works 
two  should  be  mxcntioned : 

1.  Kitdh  al-Madhal  [ild  al-Talmud]  (^ilD^X  nxJlD 
[lID^n^X  ""^X]  )/' Introduction  to  the  Talmud,"  which  seems 
to  have  been  much  in  use.  It  is  referred  to  in  several  Geni- 
zah  fragments  and  in  the  works  of  later  authors.  The  book 
was  extant  in  the  Orient  as  late  as  the  sixteenth  century, 
but  since  then  all  trace  of  it  has  been  lost.  The  short  extracts 
preserved  in  the  work  of  a  sixteenth  century  author  show 
clearly  the  methodological  character  of  Saadia's  Intro- 
duction.""' 

2.  nnD  y-"  m^t^  "  Interpretation  of  the  Thirteen  Rules," 
written  originally  in  Arabic  and  translated  into  Hebrew  by 
Nahum  ha-Ma'arabi  of  the  thirteenth  century.  It  is  a  Com- 
mentary on  the  "  Baraita  of  Rabbi  Ishmael  "  which  occurs  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Sifra,  an  Halakic  Midrash  on  Leviticus. 
The  Baraita,  which  originated  in  the  school  of  the  Tanna  R. 
Ishmael  (first  and  second  centuries), contains  an  enumeration 
of  thirteen  hermeneutic  rules  for  the  Halakic  interpretation 
of  Scriptures.  This  initial  part  is  embodied  in  the  daily 
prayers  of  the  standard  ritual.  In  its  extended  form,  as  it  ap- 
pears in  the  Sifra,  it  contains  also  ample  illustrations,  taken 
from  the  Mishnah  and  old  Halakic  Midrashim,  for  the  proper 
application  of  each  rule.  Saadia,  realizing  the  fundamental 
importance  of  these  rules  for  the  Halakah,  undertook  to  ex- 
plain them  in  his  own  methodical  way.  Unlike  the  old  Baraita, 
which  only  quotes  passages  as  examples  for  the  application 
of  the  rules,  Saadia  first  gives  a  clear  definition  of  the  mean- 
ing and  significance  of  each  rule,  classifies  the  laws  falling 
under  it,  and  then  proceeds  to  give  copious  examples  showing 

*^^  Comp.  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  162. 
''*'  See  the  Bibliography,  III,  pp.  341  f . 


i6o  SAADIA  GAON 

its  operation  in  given  cases.  He  takes  his  material  not  only 
from  Halakic  literature,  but  also  from  various  portions  of 
the  Scriptures,  his  avowed  purpose  being  to  extend  the  use 
of  these  rules  to  questions  of  morality  and  good  conduct 
instead  of  confining  it,  as  does  the  Baraita,  to  strictly  Halakic 
matters.""' 

A  few  instances  may  suffice  in  illustration.  The  first 
rule  deals  with  the  "  inference  a  minori  ad  majiis/'  or 
vice  versa  (1»ni  ^P).  One  of  Saadia's  illustrations  is  a 
reference  to  Exodus,  21,  10,  where  a  husband  of  two  wives 
is  enjoined  to  fulfil  his  duty  towards  both,  although  no  such 
injunction  is  given  regarding  a  man  with  but  one  wife. 
Here,  Saadia  shows,  the  deduction  by  inference  comes  into 
play.  If  a  man  is  in  duty  bound  to  satisfy  the  needs  of  two 
wives,  although  it  may  impose  a  great  effort  upon  him,  how 
much  more  is  it  incumbent  upon  him  to  discharge  his  duty 
as  a  husband  if  he  has  only  one  wife.  Another  illustration 
is  derived  from  the  Biblical  injunctions  to  bring  back  to  one's 
enemy  his  ox  or  ass  that  went  astray  and  to  release  the 
enemy's  ass  that  had  fallen  under  its  burden  (Exodus, 
23,  4.5) .  The  inference  is  that  the  same  law  naturally  applies 
to  the  ox  and  ass  of  a  friend.  Similarly,  from  the  law  that 
forbids  a  man  with  two  wives,  the  one  beloved  and  the 
other  hated,  to  "  make  the  son  of  the  beloved  the  first  bom 
(by  leaving  to  him  a  double  portion  of  his  possessions)  be- 
fore the  son  of  the  hated  who  is  the  firstborn  "  (Deut.,  21, 
15-17),  we  must  deduce  by  inference  that  if  the  son  of  the 

^"  For  all  further  details  see  Miiller's  elaborate  Introduction  and 
notes,  in  Oeuvres  completes  de  Saadia,  IX,  pp.  xxiii-xxxiii.  Re- 
garding the  Baraita  of  the  13  Rules  in  general  see  Hoffmann,  in 
Berliner's  Festschrift,  pp.  55-71 ;  comp.  also  ibidem,  p.  56,  n.  2,  with 
relation  to  Saadia.  As  to  the  supposed  anti-Karaite  tendency  see 
the  references  in  Poznanski's  The  Karaite  Literary  Opponents  of 
Saadiah,  p.  98  (to  p.  259).  According  to  Weiss  I^TT  (Wilna,  1904), 
IV,  139,  the  DHD  3"''  K^nD  originally  formed  part  of  the  "'Dll 
TlO^nn,  that  is,  the  work  mentioned  here  as  no,  i.  Steinschneider, 
AL.,  p.  50,  thinks  that  both  may  have  formed  one  work  together  with 
the  t?"inD  (see  under  Chronology,  no.  2),  which  is  not  improbable; 
comp.  Bardowicz   (quoted  above,  note  334),  pp.  81-87,  100. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  i6i 

beloved  happens  to  be  the  firstborn,  the  father  cannot  ac- 
knowledge as  such  the  son  of  the  hated,  if  for  some  reason 
he  might  desire  to  do  so.  Saadia  adds  one  more  illustration 
of  this  rule,  and  concludes  by  saying  that  in  this  way  many 
more  laws  and  ideas  should  be  derived  from  the  Bible.'"' 
With  the  same  painstaking  care  the  remaining  twelve  rules 
are  elucidated  by  numerous  instances  from  the  Scriptures. 
Almost  complete  uncertainty  prevails  when  we  turn  to 
the  second  group  of  Saadia'sHalakic  writings,  the  interpreta- 
tion of  Mishnah  and  Talmud.  Commentaries  by  Saadia  on 
the  "  Six  Orders  "  are  mentioned  by  an  author  of  the  twelfth 
century .^'^  It  is  not  clear  whether  he  means  the  Mishnah 
only  or  also  the  Talmud.  A  so-called  Commentary  on  the 
whole  tractate  of  Berakot,  which,  however,  contains  only  a 
few  pages  of  lexicographical  notes,  was  recently  found  among 
the  MSS.  of  the  Genizah  and  published  under  the  title  tJ^IIQ 
niD^n  ^y  nnyo  ni.  Its  authenticity  is  doubted  by  some ; 
others  deny  it  altogether,  but  admit  that  it  contains  rem- 
nants of  a  larger  Commentary  on  the  Mishnah  by  the  Gaon, 
now  lost.*^"  Saadia's  son  Dosa  speaks  in  one  of  his  Re- 
sponsa^^  of  his  father's  Talmudic  Commentaries  (''{i'nQ), 
and  references  to  such  Commentaries  by  Saadia  are  found 

^^  Oeuvres,  IX,  74;  comp.  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  162  f. 

^'I  refer  to  the  traveller  Pethahiah  of  Ratisbon;  comp.  Graetz, 
Geschichte,  V,  4th  eel.,  p.  531,  no.  12;  Bacher,  Abraham  Ibn  Esra's 
Einleitimg  zu  seiiicm  Pcntatcuch-Commentar,  p.  20,  n.  2;  see  also 
Dukes,  Beitrdgc,  II,  69 ;  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2160,  no.  i ;  Ginzberg, 
Geonica,  I,  164;  below,  note  642. 

"^  See  the  Bibliography,  III,  pp.  342  ff.  It  should  be  noted  that  the 
explanations  of  the  words  ni'lDTI  and  DIJTDD"'^?,  quoted  by  mediaeval 
authors  in  the  name  of  Saadia  (see  Oeuvres,  IX,  p.  xxxv,  n.  5),  are 
actually  found  in  this  booklet,  pp.  gb,  17a ;  comp.  also  13b,  n.  loi,  and 
tlie  other  passages  noted  by  the  editor,  Wertheimer,  p.  6,  letter  3. 
See,  however,  J.  N.  Epstein,  Der  gaondische  Kommcntar  Zur  Ord- 
nung  Tohoroth,  Berlin,  1915,  p.  31,  n.  i. 

'"^See  Schechter,  Saadyana,  p.  59,  1-  2;  Poznanski,  m  t^DH  11 
pi<3  nnVD  (reprint  from  Ha-Goren,  VI),  p.  11,  n.  26;  Eppenstein, 
Beitrdge,  p.  118. 


i62  SAADIA  GAON 

also  in  several  Genizah  fragments  of  Geonic  origin.'^^  None 
of  the  passages  makes  it  clear  whether  reference  is  had  to 
commentaries  on  entire  tractates,  or  only  to  explanations 
of  single  portions  of  the  Talmud,  such  as  are  found  in  some 
of  Saadia's  Responsa/'^^  Moreover,  the  word  ""K^nQ  may 
refer  to  Saadia's  commentaries  on  Biblical  books,  in  which 
explanations  of  single  words  occurred/*^  It  is  most  prob- 
able, however,  that  the  expression  "  commentaries  "  used 
in  these  sources  with  reference  to  Saadia's  writings  is  to  be 
taken  literally.  Saadia  must  at  least  have  written  such  Com- 
mentaries on  the  tractates  Pesahim,  Sotah,  Baha  Me 21  a,  Baha 
Batra,  and  on  the  whole  Order  of  Teharot.^^  He  has,  be- 
sides, commented  upon  special  chapters  of  Talmudic  tractates 
in  separate  writings.  One  such  Commentary,  covering  part 
of  the  seventh  chapter  of  the  tractate  Shabhat,  is  mentioned 
in  Genizah  MSS.  under  the  title  "  Interpretation  (of  the 
Mishnah  treating)  of  the  Main  Kinds  of  Work,"  which  are 
forbidden  on  the  Sabbath  (niDN^D  mnx  I^DSn)  ^  However, 
nothing  definite  can  be  said  on  the  nature  of  Saadia's  Tal- 
mud exegesis.  With  the  exception  of  the  short  glosses  con- 
tained in  the  later  compilations  on  Berakot  and  on  the  Order 
TeMrot,  as  well  as  a  few  quotations  in  other  works,  not 
even  a  fragment  has  so  far  come  to  light. 

^^  Schechter,  Saadyana,  no.  xxxii,  1.  2;  xxxiii,  1.  2;  comp.  Azulai, 
D''^n;in  DtJ',  ed.  Benjacob,  s.  v.  Saadia. 

^  See  e.  g.  Oeuvres,  IX,  87,  n.  7;  103,  n.  3;  125,  n.  S- 

^This  is,  indeed,  the  assumption  of  Poznanski,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol. 
Ill  (1912-1913),  p.  410.  See  also  J.  N.  Epstein  (as  quoted  in  n.  360), 
n.  4. 

^  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  164,  n.  i ;  comp.  Poznanski,  JQR.,  N.  S., 
vol.  Ill,  p.  410;  J.  N.  Epstein,  /.  c,  pp.  30  ft.,  who  proves  that  the 
Commentary  on  the  Order  of  Teharot,  which  has  been  ascribed  to 
the  Gaon  Hai,  is  essentially  a  work  of  Saadia,  redacted  by  a  later 
author. 

^^  It  is  mentioned  in  the  book-list  published  from  a  Genizah  MS  by 
Bacher,  REJ.,  XXXIX,  p.  200,  no.  28 ;  comp.  ih.  p.  203,  and  Schechter, 
Saadyana,  p.  128.  Eppenstein,  Beitrage,  p.  119,  suggests  that  it  may 
have  been  a  commentary  on  the  whole  tractate  Shabbat,  which  is  not 
very  probable,  as  we  would  expect  a  more  general  title. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  163 

Our  knowledge  of  the  third  group  of  Saadia's  Halakic 
writings,  those  dealing  with  the  codification  of  the  rab- 
binical law,  is  not  much  fuller.  A  considerable  number  of 
treatises  on  various  sections  of  rabbinic  law  is  attributed  to 
Saadia  by  mediaeval  authors  and  in  old  book-lists  recently 
discovered  in  the  Genizah.  But  of  all  these  works  only  one  ^" 
has  been  preserved  completely.  Of  some,^"'  scant  remnants 
were  brought  to  light  lately,  while  others  are  known  either 
by  their  original  Arabic,  or  by  (original  ?)  Hebrew  titles. 
They  may  be  enumerated  as  follows:  i.  On  Inheritance; 
2.  On  Pledges;  3.  On  Testimony  and  Contracts;  4.  On 
Incest;  5.  On  Meat  disqualified  for  Food  (terefah)  ;  6.  On 
Usury;  7.  On  Defilement  and  Purity;  8.  On  (legal)  Gifts; 
9.  On  the  Gifts  due  to  the  Priests;  10.  On  the  Laws  concern- 
ing Menstruation.^^ 

It  is  hardly  probable  that  these  treatises  were  the  partial 
execution  of  a  plan  to  codify  the  entire  law  by  a  succession  of 
such  monographs.  There  is  no  obvious  reason  why,  if  this 
were  the  intention  of  the  author,  he  should  have  picked  out 
from  the  bulk  of  the  rabbinic  law  precisely  the  subjects  enu- 
merated. From  a  passage  in  one  of  the  treatises  ^^^  we 
learn  that  he  had  intended  to  write  more  monographs  on 
questions  of  jurisprudence,  but  not  that  he  had  in  mind  to 
codify  the  entire  Talmudic  law  in  such  fashion.  In 
all  likelihood  most  of  the  treatises  were  called  forth  by 
interpellations  on  their  respective  subjects  ^^  or  by  contro- 
versies  between   Rabbanites   and   Karaites.'^^     Others   the 

'•"The  Book  on  Inheritance ;  see  the  Bibliography,  III,  p.  344. 

'"'Those  mentioned  below,  nos.  2-6;  see  the  Bibliography  of  the 
respective  works,  pp.  345  ff. 

^^From  quotations  in  the  Tur  of  Jacob  b.  Asher,  np"l^^  Dl^^n, 
§§  247,  251,  it  appears  that  Saadia  wrote  also  a  treatise  on  Charity. 
Nothing,  however,  is  otherwise  known  about  it.     See  also  below, 

P-  397. 

'™  The  treatise  on  Testimony  and  Contracts;  see  the  Bibliography, 
P-  345 ;  comp.  Saadyana,  p.  66,  11.  10-13 ;  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  p.  120, 
n.  7. 

^'^Thus  the  treatise  on  Pledges,  see  Harkavy,  D"'J1^?:!n  nnii^Tl, 
P-  393,  top. 

"^  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  50,  top. 


•i64  SAADIA  GAON 

author  may  have  been  stimulated  to  write  by  similar  mono- 
graphs on  legal  questions  in  the  literature  of  the  Arabs.''" 
This  seems  to  be  particularly  the  case  with  the  treatises  on 
Inheritance  and  on  Usury.  The  former  is  the  one  that  has 
come  down  to  us  in  its  entirety.  It  may  therefore  serve 
as  an  example  of  Saadia's  method  of  treating  Halakic  prob- 
lems. The  Introduction  to  this  work,  its  style  as  well  as 
its  content — the  very  fact  that  there  is  an  Introduction — is  a 
conspicuous  example  of  Arabic  influence.  No  Jewish 
author  before  Saadia  had  written  an  Introduction  to  his 
work.  The  Mishnah,  the  Talmud,  the  Midrashim,  and, 
so  far  as  known,  other  works  of  the  pre-Saadianic  time 
have  nothing  whatever  in  that  form."*  Moreover,  a  remark- 
able feature  of  this  Introduction  is  its  absolute  lack  of 
bearing  on  the  Halakic  contents  of  the  book  itself.  After 
the  fashion  of  similar  prefaces  in  the  works  of  Muham- 
medan  writers,  it  contains  enthusiastic  praises  of  the  Creator, 
describing  in  a  purely  philosophic  manner.  His  high 
attributes,  such  as  existence,  eternity,  and  unity,  empha- 
sizing His  infinite  bounty  toward  all  creatures,  and  show- 
ing the  necessity  of  our  beHef  in  Him  and  our  obedience 
to  His  laws.  The  last  idea  is  practically  the  only  point 
that  may  be  construed  as  an  Introduction  to  the  book 
itself,  which  is  a  classification  of  the  laws  of  inheritance  laid 
down  in  Holy  Writ  and  developed  in  the  Talmud.  More  than 
one  hundred  questions  concerning  the  rights  of  relatives  to 
inherit  movable  or  immovable  property  are  systematically  dis- 
cussed and  clarified  on  the  basis  of  traditional  literature.^'* 
The  influence  of  Muhammedan  jurisprudence  is  obvious 
throughout  the  work,  a  fact  which  leads  to  the  assumption 
that  it  was  written  after  the  author  had  sojourned  for  some 
length  of  time  in  Bab3donia,  and  had  familiarized  himself 

^'^  See  the  works  referred  to  in  the  Bibliography,  p.  344,  no.  i. 

^^*Not  even  the  DI^Hi  DI^^H  and  others  mentioned  by  Miiller, 
Oeuvres,  IX,  p.  viii. 

'"  Sometimes  Saadia  allowed  himself  to  decide  even  against  the 
Talmud;  comp,  below,  notes  462,  518. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  165 

thoroughly  with  the  contents  of  kindred  Arabic  literature 
and  the  methods  employed  therein/'* 

In  addition  to  these  three  groups  of  Saadia's  Talmudic 
works,  mention  must  be  made  of  the  Halakic  Respoitsa 
issued  by  him  from  time  to  time  in  his  capacity  as  Gaon. 
To  publish  legal  and  religious  decisions  in  response  to  ques- 
tions was  the  exclusive  right  of  the  heads  of  the  Babylonian 
academies  during  the  entire  Geonic  period.^"  About  fifty 
of  such  Responsa  issued  by  Saadia  on  various  Halakic  ques- 
tions have  been  collected.  Most  of  them  seem  to  have  been 
written  originally  in  Arabic  and  translated  later  into  He- 
brew ;  others  were  written  in  Aramaic,  the  official  language 
of  the  Geonim.^'^  As  an  author  of  Responsa  also,  Saadia 
occupies  a  unique  position  among  the  Geonim.  Here,  as  in 
all  his  writings,  one  can  recognize  at  once  a  superior  scien- 
tific method  and  the  systematizing  thought  of  the  philosopher, 
who  seeks  a  basis  of  broad  principles  for  every  subject  he 
treats.  Saadia's  method  is  so  distinctive  that  it  is  possible  to 
discern  his  authorship  of  a  Responsum  though  no  other  direct 
evidence  be  available.  In  the  Responsa,  as  elsewhere,  he 
numbers  and  classifies  the  points  under  consideration,  bases 
his  arguments  on  verses  from  Scripture  and  passages  from 
Mishnah  and  Talmud,  and  then  supports  his  deductions  by 
the  authority  of  reason.  One  instance  out  of  many :  Reuben 
advanced  money  to  Simeon  and  Levi,  partners,  in  considera- 
tion of  a  share  in  the  profits  of  the  partnership.  Later 
Reuben  withdrew  his  contribution.  Subsequently  the  entire 
capital  of  Simeon  and  Levi  was  confiscated  by  the  govern- 

"®The  assumption  of  Miiller  {Oeuvres,  IX,  Hebrew  Introduction, 
p.  xvii,  bottom,  French,  p.  xiii),  followed  by  Ginzberg  (Geonica,  1, 
165,  n.  3),  that  the  book  on  Inheritance  was  the  first  production  of 
Saadia  in  the  field  of  the  Halakah  is  therefore  to  be  rejected;  comp. 
Steinschneider,  AL.,  p,  48,  no.  3 ;  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  pp.  121  f. 
Muhammedan  influence  is  very  evident  also  in  the  small  fragment  of 
the  treatise  on  Testimony  and  Contracts;  see  the  Bibliography,  III, 
P-  345,  no.  3. 

^"  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  8  ff. 

"'^  For  all  details  relating  to  the  Responsa,  see  the  Bibliography, 
III,  pp.  349  f. 


i66  SAADIA  GAON 

ment.  Judah,  a  creditor  of  the  partners,  tries  to  recover  his 
debt  from  Reuben  as  partner  of  Simeon  and  Levi.  Reuben 
defends  on  the  ground  that  he  was  not  a  partner  but  a  credi- 
tor ;  which  plea  was  confirmed  by  Simeon  and  Levi.  A  court 
of  arbitrators  imposed  an  oath  on  Reuben  to  the  effect  that 
he  was  not  a  partner  and  that  he  had  no  money  of  the  firm 
in  his  possession.  Judah  submitted.  Later  he  changed  his 
mind  and  renewed  his  claim  on  the  ground  that  the  defen- 
dant did  not  take  the  oath  seriously,  because  it  was  informal. 
The  matter  was  then  brought  before  Saadia.  The  Gaon 
decided  that  Judah  had  no  claim  against  Reuben,  because  the 
partners  were  Simeon  and  Levi,  whereas  the  defendant  was 
merely  a  creditor,  like  the  plaintiff  himself,  and  there  was 
no  privity  of  contract  between  them.  The  plaintiff  had  no 
more  claim  against  the  defendant  on  account  of  the  defen- 
dant's contribution  to  the  partnership  than  the  defendant 
would  have  against  the  plaintiff  for  the  plaintiff's  contri- 
bution to  the  partnership.  The  arbitrators  should,  therefore, 
have  dismissed  the  case  outright.  Moreover,  the  arbitrators 
had  no  right  to  administer  to  the  defendant  an  informal  oath, 
because  where  the  necessity  of  a  formal  oath  is  in  doubt,  a 
compromise  on  an  informal  oath  is  not  permitted.  Now 
Judah's  assigning  as  error  the  informality  of  the  oath  is  with- 
out any  ground.  First:  Judah  was  not  entitled  by  law  to 
any  oath  at  all,  but  only  to  a  declaration  of  a  general  ban 
against  any  one  who  was  in  partnership  with  Simeon  and 
Levi  and  refused  to  acknowledge  it.  Second :  The  oath  was 
not  informal,  because  it  was  pronounced  over  a  holy  book ; 
and  third,  which  is  most  important,  the  plaintiff  had  no 
right  to  disqualify  the  oath  of  the  defendant  on  the  assump- 
tion that  the  latter  did  not  attach  sufBcient  significance  to  it. 
It  makes  no  difference  what  a  person  thinks  of  the  validity 
of  an  oath  administered  to  him  so  long  as  it  is  recognized 
by  the  law.  "  The  fire,"  Saadia  adds,  "  burns  alike  those 
who  believe  in  its  burning  effect  and  those  who  do  not 
believe  in  it ;  the  knife  cuts  into  the  flesh  of  him  who  recog- 
nizes its  cutting  capacity  and  of  him  who  disputes  it."  This 
interesting  comparison  he  finds  indicated  in  the  words  of 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  167 

Jeremiah,  2;^.  29 :  "  Is  not  My  word  like  as  fire,  saith  the 
Lord,  and  Hke  a  hammer  that  breaketh  the  rock  in  pieces  ?  "  "^ 
He  then  proceeds  to  prove  that  a  deposition  like  the  one  in 
question,  made  by  a  party  while  holding  a  sacred  object  in  his 
hand,^"  possesses  all  the  sanctity  and  binding  force  of  a  regu- 
lar Biblical  oath.  Several  verses  are  quoted  in  support  of 
this  view. 

Besides  the  collection  of  Responsa  there  is  a  large  number 
of  quotations  from  the  Halakic  writings  of  Saadia  in  the 
works  of  later  authors.  Altogether,  over  one  hundred  and 
fifty  of  such  quotations,  some  of  considerable  length,  have 
so  far  been  collected.  Two-thirds  of  them  are  of  Halakic- 
liturgical  content.  They  were  mostly  derived  by  the  mediae- 
val authors  directly  or  indirectly  from  Saadia's  Ritual- 
Order.  The  rest,  with  a  few  exceptions,  were  taken  from 
the  Halakic  works  of  Saadia  now  lost.^^^ 

To  complete  the  account  of  Saadia's  activity  in  the  field  of 
Halakah,  it  should  be  noted  that,  not  only  are  his  liturgical 
writings  based  in  the  main  on  Halakic  laws  and  regulations, 
but  most  of  his  works  in  other  lines,  especially  those  on  the 
calendar,  as  well  as  his  numerous  polemic  writings  against 
the  Karaites,  have  as  their  object  the  defense  of  Talmudic 
Judaism  and  naturally  discuss  Halakic  problems.  Even  in  his 
main  philosophic  work,  the  Kitdh  al-Amdnat,  and  in  his 
commentaries  on  the  Bible,  he  often  resorts  to  Talmudic 
disquisitions."'^  Thus,  wherever  we  turn,  we  are  constantly 
reminded  that  the  author  was  not  merely  a  writer  of  philos- 
ophy or  exegesis,  but  fundamentally  a  great  Talmudist — a 
Gaon. 

^'^  Oeuvres,  IX,  p.  97,  no.  10. 

^°  Comp.  Muller  ad  locum,  p.  98,  n.  5. 

^^^For  all  details  regarding  the  Quotations  see  the  Bibliography, 
in,  pp.  350  f. 

^*^  See  below,  note  462.  In  the  Sefer  ha-Galui  too  he  devoted  a 
chapter  to  the  discussion  of  matters  relating  to  the  history  of  the 
Mishnah  and  the  Talmud;  see  below,  p.  270. 


i68  SAADIA  GAON 


CALENDAR 


In  nearly  all  the  writings  of  Saadia  a  tendency  toward 
polemics  is  observable.  It  cannot  be  admitted  that  his  only, 
or  even  his  chief,  purpose  was  to  refute,  directly  or  in- 
directly, the  views  of  the  Karaites  and  other  dissenters,  as 
some  scholars  have  recently  asserted .^^^  The  most  that  can 
be  said  is  that  Saadia  was  of  a  positive  and  aggressive  dispo- 
sition and  often  emphasized  too  vigorously  his  own  views  as 
against  those  of  others,  even  in  noncontroversial  works. 
There  are,  however,  among  his  productions,  many  writings 
ostensibly  purporting  to  solve  the  problems  of  one  or  another 
branch  of  science,  but  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  were  under- 
taken for  the  sole  purpose  of  refuting  opponents.  To  this 
class  belong  particularly  his  disquisitions  on  the  calendar. 
These  were  not  the  natural  result  of  Saadia's  studies  in  a 
specific  field  of  learning,  but  were  called  forth  by  actual 
fiappenings  of  a  politico-religious  character,  which  stirred 
the  communities  of  Oriental  Jewry. 

In  an  earlier  chapter  of  the  present  work  ^*  the  origin  and 
cause  of  this  phase  of  Saadia's  activity  have  been  discussed 
at  length.  I  may  therefore  limit  myself  here  to  an  enu- 
meration of  its  literary  product.^^  Some  of  these  writings, 
as  will  be  seen  below,  were  elicited  by  the  authorities  of  the 
Babylonian  academies.  Some  of  them  have  been  preserved 
only  in  a  few  fragments  of  the  Genizah,  or  are  known  from 
quotations  only. 

I.  Sefer  Zikkaron  (in  full  nni^  n^:iD1  in:DT  nSD),  "A 
Record-book  and  Memorial-Scroll  for  (future)  Genera- 
tions," deals  with  the  differences  between  the  "  Four  Gates," 
— i,  e.,  the  four  principal  rules  of  the  Jewish  calendar  as  ac- 
cepted by  the  Babylonian  authorities — and  the  rules  advo- 
cated by  their  opponent,  the  Palestinian  Ben  Meir.  The  book 
was  written  by  Saadia  during  the  summer  of  the  year  922 

"*^  See  below,  notes  547,  548. 
""^  See  above,  pp.  69-88. 

^"  For  details  regarding  all  the  works  enumerated  below  see  the 
Bibliography,  under  Calendar. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  169 

(common  era)  at  the  request,  and  under  the  name,  of  the  Ex- 
ilarch  David  b.  Zakkai,  and  was  designed  to  be  read  in  pubHc 
on  the  twentieth  of  Elul.  Copies  were  sent  not  only  to  the 
communities  in  Eastern  countries,  but  also  to  those  in  Egypt 
and  elsewhere. 

2.  Four  Gates  (onyti'  nyint^),  an  exposition  of  the  four 
principles  of  the  traditional  calendar,  mentioned  as  a  work 
by  Saadia  in  ancient  book-lists  discovered  in  the  Genizah. 
It  is  quite  improbable  that  the  book  is  identical  with  the  one 
mentioned  in  the  preceding  paragraph.  For  although  the 
extant  fragment  of  the  Sefer  Zikkaron  likewise  deals  with 
the  "  Four  Gates,"  the  object  is  not  to  explain  their  meaning, 
but  to  refute  the  calculation  of  Ben  Meir.  Moreover,  the 
discussion  of  this  matter  is  incidental,  and  not  the  main 
burden  of  the  book  to  justify  the  title  n^V^'  nym«. 

3.  Sefer  ha-Moadim  (DnyiDil  1QD),  on  the  appointment 
of  the  Jewish  festivals  in  accordance  with  the  accepted  cal- 
endar, written  at  the  request  of  the  Exilarch,  probably  soon 
after  the  controversy  with  Ben  Meir  (about  922-923  c.  e.). 
Only  a  few,  partly  mutilated,  fragments  have  so  far  come 
to  light  from  the  Genizah. 

4.  Three  Letters,  two  in  Hebrew  and  one  in  Arabic,  ad- 
dressed to  his  pupils  in  Egypt,  soliciting  their  assistance  in 
the  suppression  of  Ben  Meir's  changes.  The  two  Hebrew 
letters  were  written  in  the  winter  922,  c.  e.,  while  the  Arabic 
letter  is  dated  "  Sixth  day,  the  eleventh  of  Tebet,"  without  the 
year,  which  obviously  is  923.  In  this  letter,  covering  over 
two  printed  pages,  Saadia  informs  his  pupils  that  he  is 
sending  them  two  copies  of  his  Sefer  Zikkaron,  mentioned 
above  (No.  i),  and  he  implores  them  to  act,  and  make  others 
act,  in  accordance  with  its  teachings. 

5.  Seder  {or  Sod?)  ha-Ihhnr  (^nx/n  [l^D]  niD),  "The 
Order  (or  Mysteries)  of  the  Calendar,"  referred  to  by  sev- 
eral authors  of  the  Middle  Ages,  as  well  as  by  a  Muhammed- 
an  author  of  the  tenth  century.  Nothing  seems  to  have 
been  preserved  of  this  work.  The  Arabic  fragment  pub- 
lished some  years  ago  probably  belongs  to  another  work 
by   Saadia.     If   this  be  the  case,   it   will  also  be  open  to 


170  SAADIA  GAON 

question  whether  the  book  under  consideration  was  written 
in  Hebrew,  as  the  title,  if  such  it  is,  would  seem  ^  to  indi- 
cate, or  in  Arabic,  the  language  of  nearly  all  of  Saadia's 
works.^"  It  is  possible,  however,  that  the  Hebrew  authors 
did  not  refer  to  any  particular  work  of  Saadia's  bearing  the 
title  given  above.  They  may  have  used  the  expression 
genetically  to  designate  Saadia's  theories  on  the  calendar,'"" 
as  laid  down  in  his  works  on  this  subject,  in  his  Bible  Com- 
mentaries, and  in  his  polemic  writings  against  the  Karaites, 
all  of  which  dealt  with  this  perpetual  subject  of  controversy 
between  Karaites  and  Rabbanites. 

It  has  also  been  suggested  that  the  work  is  identical  with 
the  one  to  be  mentioned  below  under  the  heading  of  Chronol- 
ogy (No.  i).  This  view  does  not  commend  itself,  because 
the  Hebrew  term  'ihhur  was  used  more  particularly  to  desig- 
nate the  calculation  of  the  calendar,  concerning  which 
nothing  is  found  in  the  chronological  work  referred  to. 

In  conclusion  it  should  be  explicitly  stated  that  Saadia 
wrote  about  the  calendar  in  many  of  his  works  in  other 

^  The  citation  of  a  work  by  a  Hebrew  title  is  not  sufficient  proof 
that  the  work  was  written  in  Hebrew.  Later  authors  who  wrote 
Hebrew  often  quoted  Arabic  works  by  a  Hebrew  phrase,  which 
would  properly  indicate  the  contents  (comp.  for  instance  above,  note 
299),  just  as  those  who  wrote  in  Arabic  referred  at  times  to  Hebrew 
works  by  an  Arabic  translation  of  the  title. 

^^  Among  all  the  writings  of  Saadia  only  a  few  are  known  to  have 
been  written  in  Hebrew.  These  are  (aside  from  liturgical  pieces  and 
two  letters)  the  'Agron  (first  recension,  see  above,  pp.  138  f.),  the 
Sefer  ha-Galid,  the  Sefer  ha-Mo'adim,  the  Refutation  of  Hayawaihi 
(Hiwi),  the  Poem  on  the  Alphabet  (pp.  154 ff.),  and  probably  also 
the  D''iy£^  nym^.  To  these  can  now  be  added  the  Sefer 
Zikkaron  (see  below,  p.  414,  no.  9)  and  perhaps  also  the  Refutation 
of  Daniel  al-Kumisi  (see  the  Bibliography,  p.  398,  no.  10;  comp. 
Poznanski,  JQR.,  X,  261,  n.  3.  As  regards  the  Responsa  see  the 
Bibliography,  p.  349;  comp.  Steinschneider,  Die  hebrdischen  Uber- 
setsungen  des  Mittelalters,  p.  909,  n.  ZZ-  In  view  of  these  facts  it 
is  not  altogether  improbable  that  the  DnntO  ITD  ^5/  t^llD  (see 
below,  p.  343)  is  not  a  translation  but  merely  a  recast  of  Saadia's 
original  work,  by  a  later  author,  perhaps  a  pupil  of  Saadia;  comp. 
Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  p.  118,  n.  3. 

^*  See,  regarding  this  matter,  the  references  given  by  Stein- 
schneider, Bibliotheca  Mathematica,  1895,  p.  103,  n.  11. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  171 

fields,  including  even  liturgy,  as,  for  instance,  in  his  Siddur.^^^ 
In  the  foregoing  list,  only  those  writings  are  included 
which,  so  far  as  may  be  judged  from  the  existing  material, 
dealt  with  the  subject  of  calendar  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
else. 

CHRONOLOGY 

The  chronological  treatises  that  have  come  down  to  us 
from  the  early  centuries  of  the  Middle  Ages  were  not  in- 
tended by  their  authors  to  serve  as  records  of  the  history  of 
the  Jewish  people.  Such  historical  consciousness  did  not 
then  exist  among  Jewish  authors.  The  chronological  Hsts 
they  drew  up  were  modeled  in  form  after  similar  produc- 
tions by  Muhammedan  writers,  but  the  purpose  was  mostly 
religious.  It  was  the  continuity  of  Jewish  tradition "'"  that 
they  endeavored  to  establish  by  means  of  such  data,  culled 
from  the  Scriptures  and  the  subsequent  traditional  litera- 
ture. This  had  become  a  necessity  after  the  rise  of 
Karaism  (eighth  century)  and  other  cults  which  disputed 
the  authority  of  the  Mishnah  and  the  Talmud  as  a  foreign 
element  in  Judaism,  out  of  harmony  with  the  genuine  tradi- 
tions of  Israel.^""  Saadia,  the  most  conspicuous  champion  of 
Rabbinism,  certainly  could  not  afford  to  neglect  this  side 
of  the  issue  between  him  and  his  Karaite  opponents.  More 
than  once  he  took  occasion  to  emphasize  the  uninterrupted 
continuity  of  traditional  Judaism.^'^  For  example,  he  con- 
tends that  the  system  of  the  calendar,  as  observed  in  his 
days,  was  of  immemorial  antiquity,  and  that  even  in  Bibli- 
cal times  months  and  festivals  had  been  determined  by  cal- 
culation ;  a  view  considered  untenable  even  by  the  majority  of 
Rabbinical  authors.^*^ 

^'*  See  Steinschnelder,  CB.,  2205. 

^'Comp.  Steinschneider,  Geschichtsliteratur  der  Juden,  §§  9,  18 
(p.  24). 

'''"As  late  as  in  the  12th  century  Abraham  Ibn  Daud  wrote  his 
n^npn  "no  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  refuting  the  Karaites;  see 
Steinschneider,  ibidem,  p.  46. 

^^^E.  g.  Kitdb  al-Amdndt,  pp.  23,  (Hebrew,  ed.  Slucki,  p.  12),  127 
(66)  ;  see  especially  Guttmann,  Die  Religionsphilosophie  des  Saadia, 
p.  147,  n.  3. 

^®*  Comp.  Poznanski,  JQR.,  X,  159,  270  f . ;  idem,  in  Hastings's 
Encycl.  of  Religion  and  Ethics,  s.  v.  Calendar,  p.  119. 


172  SAADIA  GAON 

Aside  from  casual  discussions  of  the  subject  occurring 
in  his  different  writings,  there  are  two  separate  works  on 
chronology  attributable  to  Saadia.    They  are : 

I.  Kitah  al-Tarih  (Tn«n^«  :i«^2),  "Book  of  Chro- 
nology." Saadia  is  quoted  as  the  author  of  a  work  under  this 
title  by  Judah  Ibn  Balam,  an  eminent  grammarian  of  the 
eleventh  century,  who  reproduces  a  passage  therefrom  and 
points  out  an  error.  The  same  passage,  with  the  error 
referred  to  by  Ibn  Bal'am,  is  found  literally  in  an  anony- 
mous work  on  chronology  bearing  the  same  title,  Kitdb 
al-Ta'nh.  It  was  therefore  suggested  with  great  propriety, 
that  the  latter  is  identical  with  the  v/ork  quoted  by  Ibn 
Bal'am.  In  support  of  this  identification  it  has  been  pointed 
out  that  the  Arabic  translations  of  the  geographical  names 
of  the  Bible,  which  occur  in  large  numbers  in  the  anony- 
mous Kitdh  al-Tarih,  agree  with  the  renditions  of  the  same 
names  by  Saadia  in  his  Arabic  version  of  the  Bible.  All 
doubts  as  to  Saadia's  authorship  of  the  anonymous  work  have 
been  finally  dispelled  by  the  recent  discovery  of  a  short  frag- 
ment of  the  initial  part  of  the  work,  which  agrees  verbally 
with  the  beginning  of  the  anonymous  text  and  contains 
besides  the  definite  ascription  to  Saadia.^"^ 

The  work  is  divided  into  seven  parts  {'aksdm),  covering 
the  history  of  the  world  from  the  Creation  down  to  the 
author's  time.  The  Bible  and  the  later  traditional  literature 
serve  as  the  main  sources.  The  accounts  reproduced  from 
the  Scriptures  are  occasionally  interpreted  in  the  light  of 
Midrashic  ideas.  The  last  part,  which  is  very  short,  shows 
changes  and  additions  by  a  later  author  or  copyist,  who 

^^^For  all  details  here  touched  upon  see  the  Bibliography,  under 
Chronology,  p.  353.  With  regard  to  the  points  of  contact  between  the 
Kitdh  al-Ta'rih  and  other  writings  of  Saadia  (Bacher,  RE  J.,  XXXII, 
144)  it  should  be  noted  that  the  reason  for  the  longevity  of  the  first 
generations  (from  Adam  to  Abraham)  advanced  by  Saadia  in  the 
work  before  us  (MJC,  II,  90,  end  of  chapter  i)  is  found  in  greater 
detail  also  in  the  recently  published  Introduction  of  Saadia  to  his 
Commentary  on  the  Psalms  (iiairkdivy-Festschrift,  Hebrew  part, 
p.  143,  Hues  5-15;  comp.  MWJ.,  VIII,  16);  comp.  also  H.  Spiegel, 
Saadia  al-Fajjumis  arabische  Danielversion,  Berlin,  1906,  pp.  11  f., 
who  adduces  some  parallels  to  passages  in  our  work  from  Saadia's 
translation  of  Daniel. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  i73 

mentions  the  years  944  (two  years  after  Saadia's  death), 
1 125,  and  1 159.  The  data  of  this  chapter  (on  account  of 
which  Saadia's  authorship  was  originally  doubted)  are 
greatly  confused,  owing  to  numerous  copyist's  errors  in  the 
text,  especially  in  the  numbers,  which  several  scholars  have 
tried  to  rectify/"* 

2.  Seder  Tanndlm  we-Amoralm  (D''^<"11D5<"1  D"'XJn  HID), 
"  Chronology  of  the  Teachers  of  the  Mishnah  and  the  Tal- 
mud." The  discovery  of  fragments  of  such  a  work  was 
announced  as  early  as  1886,  but  they  were  not  published. 
Possibly  they  are  not  part  of  a  special  work  on  chronology, 
but  of  some  other  work,  as  the  "  Introduction  to  the  Tal- 
mud," or  the  Sefer  ha-Galui,  the  second  chapter  of  which 
dealt  with  the  redaction  of  the  Mishnah  and  the  Talmud.^"'' 

3.  Toledot  Rahhenu  ha-Kadosh  (tJ^npn  ^^y^  nn^in), 
"  The  Genealogy  of  R.  Judah  the  Patriarch,"  the  redactor 
of  the  Mishnah,  which  Saadia  was  asked  to  write  while 
sojourning  in  Mosul.  Only  a  few  lines  have  been  pre- 
served.^^^ 

4.  ^J^DtJ^n  ""Jl  n^:o,  i.  e.,  "  The  Scroll  of  the  Hasmo- 
neans,"  translated  by  Saadia  from  the  original  Aramaic  into 
Arabic.  As  is  well  known,  the  Scroll  contains  a  detailed, 
partly  legendary,  account  of  the  Maccabsean  victory  over 
Antiochus  and  his  generals.  Saadia,  who  in  his  Sefer  ha- 
Galui  refers  three  times  to  the  Aramaic  Scroll,  considered  it 
a  work  of  the  Hasmoneans  themselves  and  hence  impor- 
tant enough  to  warrant  a  translation  into  the  vernacular.  It 
is  also  most  likely  that,  as  Arabic  was  then  more  commonly 
understood  by  the  Jews  than  Aramaic,  the  translation  was 
intended  to  counteract  the  Karaites,  who  had  rejected  the 
feast  of  Hanukkah  as  a  Rabbanite  invention."""" 

^  See  Baclier,  Steiiischneider,  and  Marx,  as  referred  to  in  the 
Bibliography,  pp.  353  f . 

'^^See  above,  note  357,  and  below,  p.  270;  Bibliography,  p.  354, 
no.  2. 

^®  Comp.  above,  note  107 ;  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  p.  91 ;  BibU- 
ography,  p.  354,  no.  3. 

'^"'See  Neubauer,  JQR.,  VI,  575.  For  further  details  see  the 
Bibliography,  below,  p.  355. 


174  SAADIA  GAON 

PHILOSOPHY 

A  Greek  thinker  enunciated  the  idea  that  doubt  is  the  first 
step  toward  knowledge ;  ^''  it  is  through  scepticism,  and  the 
refusal  to  accept  things  as  they  present  themselves,  that  we 
arrive  at  a  better  understanding  of  their  causes  and  a  fuller 
comprehension  of  the  universe.  This  doctrine,  now  the 
common  property  of  all  philosophers,  is  characteristic  of 
the  pagan  conception  of  the  origin  of  truth.  For  the  heathen 
there  is  no  ready-made  truth,  no  pre-arranged  system  of 
thought  to  be  relied  upon  in  our  conduct,  or  in  our  interpreta- 
tion of  nature.  The  Platonic  ideas  and  a  few  mathematical 
axioms  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  all  knowledge  is 
the  product  of  our  own  mind,  the  fruit  of  our  observation 
and  experience.  God  himself  is  not  a  given  entity,  not  an 
a  priori  truth,  but  merely  an  inference,  something  to  be  found 
by  a  logical  process  of  demonstration. 

In  striking  contrast  thereto  is  the  doctrine  of  Judaism. 
God,  to  begin  with  the  point  mentioned  last,  is  not  an  object 
of  reasoning  and  argumentation ;  His  existence  is  a  matter 
of  course,  an  absolute  fact  neither  to  be  doubted  nor  proved. 
He,  the  Creator  of  the  world,  is  the  source  of  all  knowledge, 
the  fountain  of  all  truth.  He  revealed  himself  to  His  people, 
and  gave  them  an  eternal  law,  which  was  to  make  them  live 
in  accordance  with  His  will,  and  He  continued  to  guide  them 
through  His  prophets  and  inspired  teachers. 

In  a  system  based  on  such  principles  there  is  no  room 
for  doubt  or  scepticism.  If  scepticism  is  the  generator 
of  philosophic  truth,  Judaism,  as  a  positive  religion,  could 
never  become  the  bearer  and  promulgator  of  such  truth. 
In  fact,  Judaism  is  not  a  system  of  philosophy,  but  a  moral 
theology.  It  is  not  a  scientific  doctrine  based  on  and  de- 
veloped by  speculative  thought.  Leaving  aside  the  legalistic 
elements,  it  is  the  immediate  expression  of  religious  feeling 
and  emotion.  Nor  did  Judaism  ever  produce  philosophers 
on  its  own  soil.  It  is  only  because  of  recent  assertions  to  the 
contrary,  that  it  becomes  necessary  to  emphasize  again  the 

*®^  EcTTt  be  Tols  einropijaaL  /Soi'Xo/xej'ois  Trpovpyov  to  oiaTTopTJcrat  /caXwj  *  77 
yap  vcrepov  evwopia  Xvais  roiv  irporepov  dTropotfjAvwv  iari  (Aristotle 
Metaphysics,  B,  ch.  i,  p.  995a,  27-29  of  Berlin  edition). 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  175 

accepted  fact,  that  the  comparatively  few  Jewish  authors 
who  have  become  known  as  philosophers  were  all  inspired 
by  foreign  thought.  Some  of  the  devotees  of  the  Torah 
who  had  imbibed  the  foreign  spirit  were  alive  to  the  con- 
trast between  the  Jewish  and  the  heathen  conception  of  God 
and  the  universe,  and  they  held  on  to  both  in  order  to  keep 
themselves  from  slipping  between  the  two  stools.  The  whole 
of  Jewish  philosophy  was  a  product  of  the  Galut,  and  not  in- 
digenous Oriental  Judaism.  At  the  first  collision  between 
Jew  and  Greek  on  other  than  Palestinian  soil,  Philo  the  Alex- 
andrian made  a  great  effort  to  fuse  the  two  opposing  cultures 
into  one.  The  artificial  union  was  of  comparatively  short 
duration,  and  its  effect  on  the  subsequent  development  of 
the  synagogue  was  of  slight  importance,  except,  perhaps, 
insofar  as  the  Christian  church  may  be  considered  an  out- 
growth thereof.  For  several  centuries  during  the  post- 
Alexandrian  period,  one  looks  in  vain  for  a  philosopher 
among  Jewish  scholars  until,  under  the  dominion  of  the 
Arabs  in  the  Orient,  Hebrew  culture  for  the  second  time 
collided  with  Greek  philosophy  in  the  garb  of  Muhamme- 
dan  literature.  This  encounter  soon  played  sad  havoc  in 
the  ranks  of  Oriental  Jewry.  The  belief  in  the  divine 
origin  of  the  Torah  was  shaken,  and  the  people  took  up 
with  all  sorts  of  religious  vagaries  then  rampant  in  the 
Orient.  Saadia  was  the  first  to  enter  into  the  breach.  With  his 
uncommon  intellectual  power  and  his  vast  knowledge  of  both 
Jewish  and  secular  literature,  he  set  up  a  comprehensive 
system  of  religious  philosophy,  culminating  in  the  proof  of 
the  superiority  of  Judaism  as  compared  not  only  with  other 
religious  systems,  but  also  with  the  various  doctrines  of  the 
philosophers,  and  of  the  compatibility  of  Jewish  tenets  with 
the  dictates  of  reason.  Saadia  was,  indeed,  the  first  Jewish 
philosopher  fully  conscious  of  the  basic  difference  between 
the  Jewish  and  the  philosophic  conceptions  of  truth,  and  he 
gave  especial  emphasis  to  the  fact  that  Judaism  is  primarily 
and  essentially  a  religion  based  on  historical  experience ; 
philosophic  reflection  being  required  only  for  the  purpose  of 
furnishing  secondary  evidence  of  the  genuineness  and  worth 


176  SAADIA  GAON 

of  its  manifold  teachings.'''*  And  this  constitutes  his  undy- 
ing greatness. 

As  a  linguist,  a  Talmudist,  a  liturgist,  he  has  been  greatly 
surpassed  by  many  of  those  who  followed  in  the  paths  he 
opened.  But  as  a  systematizer  and  scientific  expounder  of 
the  entire  range  of  Jewish  lore,  as  the  builder  of  the  most 
complete  system  of  Jewish  religious  philosophy,  he  has  been 
equalled  by  Maimonides  alone.  Even  Maimonides,  superior 
though  he  is  to  Saadia  in  many  respects,  owed  many  of  the 
basic  ideas  in  his  philosophic  doctrines  to  the  works  of  the 
Gaon,''"  though,  following  the  literary  methods  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  he  never  quotes  them  as  his  source. 

The  appreciation  of  Saadia  as  a  master  of  philosophy 
should  not  be  based  merely  on  those  of  his  writings  that  are 
specially  devoted  to  the  subject,  but  on  the  general  trend  of 
his  works  in  all  other  branches  of  Jewish  literature  as  well. 
Apart  from  the  numerous  philosophic  ideas  and  expositions 
we  meet  with  in  most  of  his  existing  writings  ^"^ —  and  doubt- 
less there  were  many  more  in  his  lost  works,  especially  in  his 
elaborate  commentaries  on  the  Bible*'* —  the  philosophic 
spirit  of  the  author  m^anifests  itself  in  the  method  and  the 

^  This  view  is  clearly  stated  by  Saadia  in  his  Introduction  to  the 
Kitdh    al-Atnanat,   pp.    22-26,    Emfinot,    ed.    Slucki,    Leipzig,    1864, 

pp.  11-13- 

""This  has  been  explicitly  stated  by  Abarbanel,  D^H^i^  Dl^VSn, 
IX,  ch.   I,  beginning:     IXVD^    VmjyiDI    HH^H    nniD    HOD^J^    ... 

^0^2  nnn  D^DT  i^^c'  nvn  dv  n^^r^n  ^pisn.    a  full  account 

of  Saadia's  influence  on  Maimonides  in  all  fields  of  his  literary 
activity,  including  Halakah,  requires  a  monograph.  Respecting 
Maimonides's  indebtedness  to  Saadia  in  the  field  of  philosophy  see 
Guttmann,  in  the  Israel  'Lewy-Festschrift,  Breslau,  191 1,  pp.  308- 
326  (also  in  Moses  Ben  Maimon,  II,  202)  ;  comp.  below,  notes  416, 
446,  578. 

^ E.  g.  his  Introductions  to  the  "Book  on  Inheritance"  (Oeuzres, 
IX,  1-8),  the  translation  of  the  Pentateuch  (Oeuvres,  I)  the  Com- 
mentaries on  Job,  Proverbs  (Oeuvres,  V,  VI),  and  the  Psalms 
(Harkavy-F estschrift,  pp.  138-152),  as  well  as  numerous  philosophic 
disquisitions  embodied  by  the  Gaon  in  the  respective  commentaries 
themselves ;  comp.  in  particular  the  Commentary  on  Proverbs,  pp. 
183-203. 

^  See  the  extracts  from  Saadia's  lost  Commentary  on  the  Penta- 
teuch in  Judah  b.  Barzillai's  Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yezirah, 
ed.  Halberstam,  pp.  89-92,  197. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  177 

form  of  nearly  everything  he  has  written.  This  is  what  the 
student  recognizes  as  the  pecuHar  Saadianic  characteristic. 
In  the  following  exposition,  however,  we  shall  devote  our 
attention  more  particularly  to  those  works  of  the  Gaon  which 
come  properly  under  the  head  of  philosophy. 

I.  Tafsir  Kitab  al-Mahadi  (n«nD^«  nt^DD  "T-DDn), 
"  Commentary  on  the  Book  of  Creation "  '"'^  written  in 
the  year  931,  soon  after  the  struggle  between  Saadia 
and  the  Exilarch  David  b.  Zakkai  broke  out.  Saadia  is  the 
first  known  "**'  commentator  of  this  mysterious  work,  the 
most  puzzling  literary  production  in  existence.  It  might  at 
first  seem  surprising  that  a  rationalist  like  Saadia,  with  his 
pronounced  aversion  to  all  kinds  of  occult  science,  should 
have  taken  the  trouble  of  commenting  upon  such  a  mystical 
document.***  It  becomes  understandable  when  we  reflect 
that  in  the  time  of  Saadia  this  work  had  not  yet  been  divested 

*"^  Regarding  the  title  see  Steinschneider,  Hebrdische  Ubersetz- 
ungen,  p.  443,  n.  513.  The  date  of  composition  is  derived  from  a 
passage  in  the  Commentary  (ed.  Lambert,  p.  52,  bottom;  French 
text,  p.  y6,  n.  i)  ;  comp.  Harkavy,  JQR.,  XII,  539.  The  passage  is 
reproduced  also  in  a  Hebrew  translation  in  Judah  b.  Barzillai's  tJ^IID 
m^^f  1QD,  p.  214,  1.  13  (see  the  Bibliography,  pp.  355  ff.),  where  the 
date  T'^DI  1=936  must  be  corrected  to  !2''D1,  as  it  is  in  the  Arabic 
original,  not  l"0*1,  as  suggested  by  Halberstam  in  his  note  ad  locum, 
p.  325  (Steinschneider,  /.  c,  n.  517)  ;  comp.  note  293  and  below  p.  185. 
For  all  further  details  see  the  Bibliography,  pp.  355-359. 

""•^The  book  had  been  commented  upon  prior  to  Saadia,  as  he 
quotes  in  his  Commentary  (pp.  81  f.,  see  below,  note  576)  some  other 
interpreter,  against  whose  interpretation  he  argues.  No  older 
commentary,  however,  is  known,  as  that  of  Isaac  Israeli  does  not 
exist  in  its  original  form,  only  some  portions  of  it  having  been 
embodied  in  the  Commentary  of  his  pupil  Dunash  Ibn  Tamim 
(London,  1902).  It  is  possible  that  the  interpreter  quoted  by  Saadia 
is  indeed  Israeli,  for  another  passage,  quoted  on  p.  42  (11.  8  ff.),  is 
found  in  Diinash's  Commentary  (p.  22)  in  the  name  of  Israeli. 
Regarding  the  complicated  question  of  the  authorship  of  that  Com- 
mentary see  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  44,  no.  15 ;  comp.  above,  p.  48. 

*"*  Against  the  explanation  of  Guttmann  (Saadia,  pp.  26,  49)  see 
the  correct  remarks  of  Lambert,  p.  viii,  who,  however,  goes  too  far 
in  asserting  that  Saadia  had  acquired  all  his  knowledge  of  philosophy 
in  Egypt.  Lambert  was  not  yet  aware  of  the  more  recently  ascer- 
tained fact  that  Saadia  left  Egypt  when  about  23  years  old  [see 
Postscript]. 

12 


178  SAADIA  GAON 

of  its  original  character  as  a  philosophic  attempt  to  explain 
the  process  of  the  world's  generation  by  the  will  of  the 
Creator.  It  still  had  a  claim  upon  the  earnest  attention  of 
the  scholar.  Moreover,  Saadia  seems  to  have  had  his  mis- 
givings as  to  the  real  value  of  the  book  and  the  acceptability 
of  its  teachings.  He  expresses  himself  very  cautiously 
about  the  authorship  of  the  work,  saying  that  the  general 
belief  which  ascribes  it  to  the  patriarch  Abraham  can 
only  be  sustained  insofar  as  the  ideas  contained  therein  are 
concerned,  while  in  its  literary  form  it  is  the  product  of 
scholars  who  lived  in  Palestine.  To  support  his  view  he 
points  to  the  ]Mishnah,  which  existed  in  oral  tradition  for 
many  centuries  before  it  was  put  into  writing.  Even  a  part 
of  the  Bible  (Proverbs  25,  i  fif),  he  continues,  went  through 
the  same  process.*"'  It  is  characteristic  of  Saadia's  attitude 
toward  the  book  that  he  does  not  accept  what  he  presents  as 
its  basic  theory  of  creation.  He  substitutes  another  theory, 
which,  he  says,  is  that  of  the  Torah,"^"  a  rather  surprising 
attitude  in  view  of  the  circumstance  that  the  theory  of  the 
Sefer  Yezirah  is  supposed  to  have  been  taught  by  the  pa- 
triarch Abraham.  He  also  realizes  that  the  text  had  been 
much  tampered  with,  and  cannot  always  be  taken  as  a  safe 
guide.  He  makes  many  emendations,*"  and  "  to  prevent  fur- 
ther alterations  and  misinterpretations  "  **'  gives  the  Hebrew 
text  in  full,  with  a  verbal  Arabic  translation  {tafslr).  This 
is  followed  by  a  lengthy  commentary  (shark).  The  Hebrew 
text  he  divides  into  eight  chapters,  of  which  the  first  four  are 
subdivided  into  twenty-four  paragraphs  (halakot),  while 
the  latter  four,  which  he  considers  merely  as  a  more  detailed 
repetition  and  development  of  the  former,**'  are  given  with- 

*^^  Tafsir,  p.  12,  French  translation,  p.  28  (in  the  following  notes 
the  references  to  the  French  translation  will  be  indicated  by  figures 
in  parentheses)  ;  comp.  Jellinek,  Beitrdge  zur  Gesch.  der  Kabbala, 
I,  5.  The  same  view  as  regards  parts  of  the  Bible  he  expresses  in 
his  Commentary  on  Proverbs,  25,  i ;  comp.  Steinschneider, 
Hehraische  Uhcrsetzungen,  p.  443,  n.  515. 

^  Tafsir,  pp.  11  (27),  91  (113),  1.  7;  comp.  below,  p.  182,  top. 

""■^  See  Tafsir,  pp.  26,  1.  9;  50,  3-9;  80,  14;  102,  8. 

^'^  Tafsir,  p.  13   (29),  end  of  the  Introduction, 

*^  Tafsir,  p.  89  (112),  11.  17  ff. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  179 

out  further  division  and  without  the  tafsir.  The  Commen- 
tary on  this  portion  of  the  book,  too,  is  comparatively  brief, 
occupying  about  the  tenth  part  of  the  whole  (exclusive  of 
the  Introduction).  In  his  introductory  remarks  to  this  part 
of  the  work,  at  the  end  of  the  fourth  chapter  (p.  98,  bottom) 
he  states  that  the  Commentary  on  the  following  chapters  will 
be  limited  to  the  explanation  of  rare  words  and  the  elucida- 
tion of  new  matter. 

Whether  or  not  Saadia  succeeded  in  unravelling  the  mys- 
teries of  the  Sefer  YcqiraJi — let  it  be  said  distinctly  that  he 
did  not — is  not  a  matter  of  much  concern.  The  Commentary, 
such  as  it  is,  is  a  valuable  specimen  of  the  early  attempts  to  ex- 
plain the  book.  It  contains,  however,  a  wealth  of  material  of 
special  importance  for  the  appreciation  of  Saadia's  achieve- 
ments in  various  fields  of  knowledge,  more  particularly  in 
those  of  Hebrew  grammar  and  religious  philosophy.  A 
detailed  account  of  Saadia's  detached  tlieories  on  these 
subjects,  as  they  occur  in  this  Commentary,  is  out  of  the 
question  here.  It  would  require  the  reproduction  of  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  book.  Nor  is  this  the  place  for  a 
discussion  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Sefer  Yedrah  itself  as 
presented  by  Saadia.  A  brief  summary  of  the  philosophic 
problems  presented,  and  of  some  other  literary  and  historical 
questions  dealt  with  by  the  author  in  connection  with  his 
explanations  of  the  text,  will  suffice  to  show  the  general 
character  and  literary  significance  of  his  Commentary. 

We  have  seen  that  it  was  Saadia's  scientific  method  to 
introduce  his  works,  whether  they  were  of  an  independent 
nature  or  in  the  form  of  commentaries,  by  a  general  outline 
of  the  subject  under  consideration,  or  by  an  analysis  of  the 
content,  scope  and  purpose  of  the  book  to  be  commented 
upon.'""  The  same  method  is  adhered  to  in  the  Commen- 
tary on  the  Sefer  Yesirah.  A  lengthy  Introduction,  occu- 
pying twelve  pages  of  the  Arabic  text,  begins  with  the 
brief  statement,  that  the  book  is  generally  ascribed  to 
Abraham  the  patriarch.     After  a  short  praise  of  God,  cus- 

^'^  See  in  particular  the  Introductions  to  Job,  Proverbs,  and  Psalms. 


i8o  SAADIA  GAON 

ternary  in  Arabic '"  works,  he  points  out  that  the  most 
difficult  problem  that  has  troubled  the  mind  of  thinkers 
among  all  nations  is  the  origin  of  the  universe.  Even  the 
author  of  a  Biblical  book,  King  Solomon,  had  to  admit  that 
his  reasoning  did  not  avail  him  to  solve  this  problem 
(Kohelet,  7,  24).  Nevertheless  it  is  not  permissible  to 
abandon  the  study  of  this  question,  for  "  philosophy  is  one 
of  the  noblest  creations  of  God,"  and  Scripture  recognizes 
in  philosophy,  so  to  speak,  one  of  the  occupations  of  the 
Creator  himself,*"  when  it  says  (Job,  12,  22)  :  "  He  discov- 
ereth  deep  things  out  of  darkness  and  bringeth  out  to  light 
things  obscure." 

Having  thus  prepared  the  way  for  a  philosophic  inves- 
tigation, he  gives  an  historical  account  of  the  various 
Greek  theories  of  the  origin  of  the  world,  and  refutes  them 
one  by  one.  It  is  Saadia's  habit,  observable  in  all  his  works, 
not  to  mention  the  names  of  authors  whose  views  he  op- 
poses,'^^  a  custom  departed  from  in  but  a  few  rare  instances. 
He  follows  here  his  common  practice.  The  theories  he  dis- 
cusses are,  however,  readily  traceable  to  their  respective 
authors.  The  first,  affirming  the  eternity  of  the  world,  is 
that  of  the  so-called  Dahriyya  (EternaHsts),  which  differs 
from  that  of  Aristotle  insofar  as  it  eliminates  the  idea  of  a 
prime  mover*"'';  the  second,  which  he  subdivides  into  three 
somewhat    similar   branches,    seems    to   be    a    combination 

*^^  The  prayer  is  always  followed  by  the  formula  "lyi  i<^t?,  which 
introduces  the  subject  proper;  in  Hebrew  works  under  Arabic  in- 
fluence usually  ^i<^  ^nk^'^  inx,  or,  as  in  the  Emunot,  beginning: 
n  IJnnDt^  no  nn^l;  see  the  numerous  instances  collected  by 
Steinschneider,  HB.,  X,  98,  n.  3 ;  XII,  57,  "•  i-  The  Arabs  consider 
the  formula  very  important  and  credit  David  with  its  invention; 
see  Steinschneider,  Vorlesungen  iiber  die  Kunde  hebrdischer  Hand- 
schriften,  p.  35. 

"'Comp.  Guttmann,  Saadia,  p.  48,  n.  3.  Saadia's  theory  reminds 
one  of  the  dictum  of  K.  F.  Gauss,  the  great  German  mathematician : 
6  6e6s  fjLadrj/xaTi^ei. 

"^^  Saadia   says   this    explicitly   in   his   'Agron,   Harkavy,   Zikron, 

V,  51. 
*""  Comp.  Horovitz,  Cohen's  Festschrift,  p.  243,  n.  i ;  below,  note 

475. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  i8i 

of  the  doctrines  of  Plato  and  of  the  Greek  atomists  Leucip- 
pus  (500  b.  c.  e.)  and  Democritus  (460)  ;  the  fourth,  which 
postulates  water  as  the  prime  matter,  is  the  theory  of  the 
oldest  known  Greek  philosopher,  Thales  of  Miletus  (640)  ; 
while  the  fifth  and  the  sixth  theories,  the  one  considering 
the  element  of  air  and  the  other  that  of  fire  as  the  prime 
matter,  are  those  of  Anaximenes  (550)  and  Heraclitus  (500) 
respectively.  To  these  is  added,  as  the  seventh  theory,  the 
teaching  of  Pythagoras  (586-506),  that  all  existence  origi- 
nates through  numbers. 

It  is  obvious  that  Saadia  did  not  follow  chronology  in 
thus  disposing  of  the  Greek  thinkers.  He  seems  to  have 
arranged  the  theories  in  the  order  of  his  valuation  of  them, 
putting  the  least  probable  first,  and  proceeding  by  degrees 
to  the  most  plausible.  This  will  explain  why  he  interrupted 
the  order  by  inserting  in  the  third  place  a  theory  which  he 
evidently  attributes  to  some  unnamed  Jewish  authors,  who 
maintain  that  the  world  was  created,  but,  basing  their 
inference  upon  an  erroneous  interpretation  of  a  Mishnah 
(Hagigah,  II,  i),  forbid  the  study  of  how  and  by  what 
means  the  creation  was  effected.  Naturally,  such  restric- 
tion of  the  right  to  philosophize  did  not  appeal  to  Saadia,  and 
he  put  the  theory  where  he  thought  it  belonged."" 

Having  rejected,  as  to  the  origin  of  the  universe,  the  seven 
views  cited,  Saadia  turns  to  the  theory  of  the  Sefer  Ye- 
zirah,  which,  according  to  him,  differs  from  that  of  Pythag- 
oras only  insofar  as,  in  addition  to  the  ten  numerals,  it 
postulates  also  the  twenty-two  letters  of  the  Hebrew  alpha- 
bet as  the  creative  mechanism  and  the  essence  of  all  creation. 
Saadia  devotes  much  space  here  and  elsewhere  in  his  Com- 
mentary to  the  elucidation  of  this  fantastic  theory,  which, 
together  with  that  of  Pythagoras,  he  endeavors  to  harmonize 
with  the  teachings  of  Judaism.  The  author  of  the  Sefer 
Yerirah,  he  asserts,""*  did  not  mean  to  say  that  the  numbers 
and  letters  pre-existed  as  separate  entities,  out  of  which  the 
world  was  created,  but  only  tliat  they  constituted  an  impor- 

*"For  further  discussion  of  the  subject  see  below,  pp.  202-204. 
"^"Tafsir,  p.  10  (26,  top),  11.  15  f. 


i82  SAADIA  GAON 

tant  factor  in  the  process  of  the  world's  formation  as  the 
underlying  principles  of  order  and  symmetry  in  all  nature. 

But  Saadia  does  not  accept  all  the  views  of  the  Sefer 
Yezirah*"  According  to  him  there  was  no  gradual  process 
of  formation  such  as  described  in  that  work,  but,  "  as  taught 
in  the  Book  of  Genesis,  the  four  elements,  fire,  air,  water,  and 
earth,  with  all  their  compositions,  combinations,  and  for- 
mations, were  created  by  God  (ex  nihilo)  at  one  stroke,  just 
as  the  flesh,  bones,  veins,  skin,  and  all  that  forms  itself 
thereof  originate  all  at  once  in  the  embryo ;  the  pulp,  kernel, 
peel,  stalk,  and  other  components  begin  simultaneously  in 
the  fruit,  and  the  elements  of  fire,  redness,  brilliancy,  and 
ignition,  appear  all  at  the  same  time  in  the  flame."  *^'^ 

Here  the  Introduction  ends,  but  before  taking  up  the  text 
for  interpretation  the  commentator  discusses  the  question  of 
Abraham's  authorship.  In  this  connection  we  receive  his- 
torically important  information  about  the  differences  between 
the  Babylonian  and  Palestinian  Jews  in  naming  the  letters  of 
the  Hebrew  alphabet  and  in  the  pronunciation  of  the  resh.*^^ 
It  is  on  the  basis  of  these  observations  in  the  text  of  the 
Sefer  Yezirah  that  Saadia  assigns  it  to  a  Palestinian  author. 

Among  the  points  of  interest  discussed  in  the  Commentary 
proper  the  following  may  briefly  be  sketched. 

^^°  To  minimize  the  importance  of  the  theory  of  the  Sefer  Yezirah, 
as  one  advanced  by  Abraham,  Saadia  declares  (Tafstr,  p.  17  (35), 
bottom)  that  Abraham  did  not  assert  it  as  a  positive  truth,  but 
merely  suggested  it  as  an  idea  that  appealed  to  his  imagination; 
comp.  Tafsir,  p.  12  (28),  11.  17  ff. 

^^^Tafsir,  p.  12  (27).  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Saadia  quotes 
this  passage  from  his  Commentary  on  Genesis,  now  lost  (comp, 
the  Bibliography,  p.  308).  The  question  of  the  correctness  of  these 
illustrations  from  the  viewpoint  of  modern  science  does  not  concern 
us.  Saadia  expresses  the  same  view  in  the  'Amdndt,  p.  88,  11.  17  ff. 
{Em.,  p.  46).  In  both  places  he  bases  it  on  Is.  48.  13,  as  interpreted 
in  the  Talmud  (Hagigah,  12a).  Here  again  Maimonides  (Daldlat, 
II,  ch.  30;  Munk,  Guide,  II,  p.  234)  follows  Saadia,  without  referring 
to  his  source;  comp.  Guttmann,  in  Isr.  Lewy's  Festschrift,  p.  322 
(Moses  ben  Maimon,  II,  212)  ;  above,  note  399;  below,  notes  446, 
515,  54i«. 

^''  Comp,  Derenbourg,  Manuel  du  lecteur  (Journal  Asiatique, 
1870),  p.  459,  n.  i;  496;  Briill,  Jahrhiicher,  II,  158  ff. ;  Bacher, 
Anfdnge,  pp.  22  f. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  183 

Chapter  i  (pp.  13-36) .  A  lengthy  discussion  in  which  the 
distinction  is  drawn  between  things  knowable  and  therefore 
to  be  studied  with  zeal,  as,  for  instance,  the  content  and 
meaning  of  the  religious  law,  and  things  unknowable,  as  the 
laws  of  nature.  "  For  if  you  ask  the  wisest  among  men 
why  does  fire  tend  upward  and  water  downward,  or  why 
is  the  element  of  air  in  motion  and  that  of  the  earth  stable, 
he  will  not  be  able  to  say  more  than  that  they  were  so  created 
and  that  this  is  their  nature  "  "' —  as  satisfactory  a  reply  as 
the  modern  scientist  makes  when  he  refers  a  questioner 
dogmatically  to  the  laws  of  *'  gravitation  "  or  of  "  chemical 
affinity." 

The  author  of  the  Sefer  Yezlrah,  Saadia  continues,  who 
seems  to  have  gone  much  farther  in  presenting  his  solutions 
of  nature's  mysteries,  in  reality  did  not  pretend  to  know  what 
is  unknowable,  but  merely  suggested  that  the  numbers  and 
letters  may  have  been  the  instruments  of  creation,  just  as  we 
believe  in  a  creatio  ex  nihilo,  though  we  have  never  wit- 
nessed anything  coming  out  of  nothing."^ 

Saadia's  efforts  to  blend  Judaism  with  Greek  philosophy 
are  characteristically  illustrated  in  his  interpretation  of  ten 
divine  names  used  in  the  Sefer  Yezirah  and  even  of  the  Ten 
Commandments  as  indicative  of  the  ten  categories  of  Aris- 
totle."^"  Needless  to  say,  he  turns  many  an  exegetical  somer- 
sault in  order  to  accomplish  his  purpose.  A  little  further  on 
(p.  22)  he  attributes  in  the  name  of  "  scholars  "  a  fourfold 
existence  to  all  things :  in  reality,  in  speech,  in  writing,  and 

*^^Tafsir,  p.  15  (32),  11.  15  ff.  The  same  occurs,  at  still  greater 
length,  in  Saadia's  Commentary  on  Proverbs,  30,  3-4;  comp.  also 
Commentary  on  Job,  28,  28,  and  Bacher's  note  to  that  passage.  The 
passage  is  quoted  by  Eliezer  b.  Nathan  (see  the  references  below, 
note  623)  and  Judah  b.  Barzillai,  "''^DD  p.  155  (comp.  also  p.  275) 
from  the  Commentary  on  Proverbs,  not  from  that  on  the  Sefer 
Yec-irah,  as  assumed  by  Kaufmann  in  his  note  ad  locum,  p.  339. 

"'"  Tafsir,  p.  17  (35)  ;  comp.  note  415. 

*'■"' Tafsir,  pp.  18-22  (36-42).  Part  of  this  exposition  is  quoted  by 
Berechiah  ha-Nakdan,  ^"1V»,  pp.  n8  f .  (comp.  the  Bibliography, 
P-  35^)  ;  comp.  Judah  b.  Barzillai,  pp.  276-278. 


i84  SAADIA  GAON 

in  thought.  For  this  idea  I  do  not  know  the  source.*^^  In 
connection  with  the  alliterative  passage  sefer,  sefdr,  sip  pur 
(beginning  of  Sefer  Yezirah),  he  points  to  similar  allitera- 
tions in  Bible  (Isaiah,  24,  17),  Talmud  (Erubin,  65^,  top: 
"iDy^n  IDIDa  1D''Dn)  ;  Eleazar  Kalir's  liturgy  (Kerobot  to  the 
second  day  of  Tabernacles :  nD^DJD  "O^n^  '•DDIO^  ^DDID^ 
miP),  and  in  the  style  of  Hebrew  letters  prevalent  in  his  own 
time,  of  which  he  quotes  several  examples.*^ 

Other  points  in  this  chapter  worth  mentioning  are : 
Saadia's  correct  explanation  of  the  meaning  of  the  dragon  in 
astronomy j^^''  and  his  accurate  description  of  the  inequality 
in  length  of  days  and  nights  in  different  parts  of  the  world, 
which  ultimately  results  in  some  countries  having  continuous 
day  or  night  for  a  period  of  six  months.*^* 

Chapter  2  (pp.  36-55).  The  lengthy  discussion  of  the 
consonants  and  vowels  of  the  Hebrew  alphabet  and  their  pro- 
nunciation by  the  Tiberians  and  Babylonians  (pp.  42-46), 
which  is  of  great  importance  for  the  history  of  Hebrew 
grammar,  has  been  fully  treated  by  competent  scholars  *'^  and 
may  therefore  be  passed  over.  Among  the  points  of  interest 
in  this  chapter  we  note  Saadia's  contention  that  the  earth  is 
round,  inclosed  on  all  sides  by  the  heavens,  in  opposition  to 
the  author  of  the  Sefer  Yesirah,  who  considers  it  fiat, 
covered  only  on  one  side  by  the  heavens  "  as  the  roof  covers 
the  house."  ^^  The  endless  diversity  in  the  physical  properties 
of  organic  and  inorganic  bodies  Saadia  explains,  like  Aris- 
totle, as  the  result  of  different  combinations  of  the  primary 

'^The  idea  is  repeated  in  Tafsir,  p.  44  (67),  11.  15  ff.;  comp. 
Judah  b.  Barzillai,  pp.  230,  1.  9  from  below ;  278,  11.  29  ff. 

^  Tafsir,  p.  23 ;  comp.  Lambert's  translation,  p.  43,  n.  7 ;  Dukes, 
D^DHP  ^nJ,  p.  24;  Steinschneider,  Kerem  Chemed,  IX,  40;  Har- 
kavy,  Zikron,  V,  no;  comp.  J.  N.  Epstein  (above,  note  360),  p.  45. 

*^  Tafsir,  p.  32  (52  f.),  quoted  also  by  Judah  b.  Barzillai,  p.  209; 
comp.  Kaufmann,  ad  locum,  p.  345. 

*^  Tafsir,  p.  33  (54)  ;  comp.  Lambert's  Introduction,  p.  x. 

*^  Bacher,  Anfdnge,  pp.  38-62, 

*^^  Tafsir,  p.  48  (71),  11.  13  ff. ;  comp.  Lambert,  Introduction,  p.  x. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  185 

elements  which  constitute  the  bodies."''  In  illustration  thereof 
he  points  to  the  new  meanings  always  arising  from  the  per- 
mutation of  letters  in  a  word,  or  the  transposition  of  words 
within  given  sentences.  Drifting  into  the  field  of  astrology 
(in  which  Saadia,  in  spite  of  his  pronounced  rationalism, 
probably  beheved  to  some  extent)  he  illustrates  the  same  idea 
by  showing  the  varying  influences  of  the  stars  on  human 
actions  in  accordance  with  their  position  in  the  zodiac.'"^  For 
the  computation  of  the  planetary  motions  he  uses  as  a  starting 
point  the  day  on  which  he  was  writing,  so  that  we  learn 
incidentally  the  date  of  the  work.  It  was  Tuesday,  the 
twelfth  of  Sivan,  1242  era  contractuum  =  M3.y  31,  931,  c.  e.""" 
Chapter  3  (pp.  55-69).  Numbers  and  letters  occupying 
so  prominent  a  position  in  the  "  Book  of  Creation,"  Saadia 
again  and  again  takes  occasion  to  discuss  their  qualities  and 
significance  from  various  points  of  view.  The  number 
"  One  "  is  extolled  as  the  most  important  of  all,  being  the 
origin  of  all  numbers  with  their  infinite  potentialities  and  pre- 
ceded by  none,  resembling  in  this  respect  the  Creator  of  the 
universe.""  The  difficulties  of  the  text  often  lead  Saadia  to 
very  curious  conceits.  The  letter  t^'  with  its  three  arms  ris- 
ing from  the  base,  symbolizes  to  him  the  upward  striving 
element  of  fire ;  the  ^  with  its  two  sides  dropping  down, 
represents  the  water ;  and  the   i^  with  outspread  wings  the 

^  To f sir,  p.  51  (73  f.)  ;  Lambert,  p.  x.  In  a  similar  way  he  ex- 
plains elsewhere  in  this  work  (p.  60,  top)  the  causes  of  the  differ- 
entiation between  male  and  female;  comp,  Lambert,  p.  82;  Judah 
b,  Barzillai,  p.  222,  top. 

^Tafsir,  p.  53  (76  f.)  ;  Judah  b.  Barzillai,  p.  214. 

"'  See  above,  note  402.  It  may  here  be  added  that  nearly  all  of 
the  second  chapter  is  reproduced  in  a  Hebrew  translation  in  the 
"•''DQ  of  Judah  b.  Barzillai  (see  the  Bibliography,  pp.  356  f.),  but  the 
text  is  very  corrupt. 

^°  Tafsir,  p.  56  (79),  1.  4  from  below;  Judah  b.  Barzillai,  pp.  260  f. 
On  p.  27  (48,  top),  11.  II  ff.,  Saadia  restricts  this  statement  to  the 
effect  that  numbers,  like  time,  are  infinite  only  in  comparison  with 
ourselves,  but  not  when  compared  to  God.  Another  paragraph  is 
devoted  to  the  glorification  of  the  number  One;  Tafsir,  p.  68  (89  f.)  ; 
comp.  Steinschneider,  BibJiotheca  Mathematica,  1895,  pp.  23  f. 


i86  SAADIA  GAON 

2i{r*^  A  lengthy  discussion  on  the  permutations  of  letters  *'' 
shows  their  endless  progression  with  the  increasing  number 
of  letters  added  to  a  word,  so  that  the  longest  word  occurring 
in  the  Bible  and  counting  only  eleven  letters  (D^JDmti^ni<ni, 
Esther,  9,  3),  permits  of  39,916,800  combinations!  He  con- 
cludes this  discussion  with  the  following  interesting  remarks  : 
"  In  similar  proportions  increases  the  gain  of  him  who 
searches  after  knowledge.  Each  time  he  learns  a  point  he 
derives  therefrom  another  one,  just  as  the  profit  of  the  mer- 
chant increases  each  time  he  adds  something  to  the  capital. 
Nay,  even  more ;  the  profit  gained  by  study  can  always  be 
added  to  the  capital,  while  the  profit  of  capital  engaged  in 
business  in  the  beginning  is  spent  so  that  it  disappears, 
wherefore  Scripture  (Prov.  3,  14)  says:  The  merchandise 
of  it  is  better  than  the  merchandise  of  silver,  and  the  gain 
thereof  than  fine  gold." 

The  Commentary  on  the  "  Book  of  Creation  "  is,  so  far 
as  I  know,  the  only  extant  work  of  Saadia  in  which  he 
touches  also  upon  the  ancient  idea  of  the  parallelism  existing 
between  the  universe  as  a  macrocosm  and  man  as  a  micro- 
cosm*^; an  idea  which,  as  I  have  shown  elsewhere,  has  its 
origin  in  old  Babylonian  literature.*^  Following  a  jMidrash,*'' 
Saadia  interposes  between  these  two  worlds  an  intermediary 
world,  which  is  represented  by  the  Holy  Tabernacle.  He 
refers  the  reader  to  his  "commentary  on  the  construction 
of  the  Tabernacle,"  in  which  he  draws  eighteen  parallelisms 
among  the  three  worlds. "^^     Here  only  two  are  given :  to 

^^Tafsir,  p.  59  (82);  Judah  b.  Barzillai,  pp.  221  f.;  comp.  also 
Tafsir,  p.  91   (113,  bottom). 

^^^Tafsir,  pp.  62-64  (83-85)  ;  Judah  b.  Barzillai,  pp.  244  fT.  Judah 
(p.  243,  bottom)  quotes  some  other  words  of  the  Bible  as  the  longest. 
Ibn  Ganah,  Kitab  al-Lnma ,  p.  29  (n^p^,  p.  7)  uses  Saadia,  as  usual, 
without  name. 

*^  Tafsir,  pp,  67  f.  (89)  ;  comp.  also  p.  91  (113  f.),  end  of  chapter  4. 

^Comp.  Malter,  Personifications  of  Soul  and  Body,  JQR.,  N.  S., 
vol.  II  (1911-1912),  pp.  453  ff. 

^"^  See  Jellinek,  Bet  ha-Midrasch,  III,  175  f. 

^^^  Quoted  by  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,  on  Exodus,  25,  40 ;  see  also  his 
Short   Commentary   on   Exodus,  25,   7    (Geiger,    WissenschaftUche 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  187 

the  two  celestial  lights  (sun  and  moon)  correspond  the  two 
eyes  in  man  and  the  lamps  in  the  candlestick  of  the  Taber- 
nacle ;  the  firmament  which  divided  the  water  under  it  from 
the  water  above  it  (Genesis,  i,  7)  is  paralleled  by  the  veil 
which  divided  between  the  holy  and  most  holy  place  in  the 
Tabernacle  (Exodus,  26,  33)  and  by  the  diaphragm,""  which 
separates  the  organs  of  nutrition  from  those  of  respiration  in 
man. 

Chapter  4  (pp.  69-92).  Most  of  this  chapter  is  devoted 
to  the  explanation  of  the  theory  of  creation  supposed  to  be 
propounded  by  the  Sefer  Yezirah.*^^  The  believers,  Saadia 
begins,  use  various  terms  in  trying  to  describe  the  process  of 
creation.  They  say,  God  created  the  world  by  his  "  breath," 
"spirit"  (nn),  "word"  (nm),  "power,"  "will,"  "desire," 
and  the  like.  But  all  these  terms  have  one  and  the  same  mean- 
ing. The  author  of  our  book  uses  "  breath,"  which  is  used 
also  in  Scripture  (Job,  26,  13),  "by  his  breath  the  heavens 
are  garnished."  When  the  breath,  or  spirit,  is  conceived 
as  having  assumed  actual  form,  it  is  called  "  word."  Thus 
Scripture  says  (Psalms,  33,  6),  "by  the  word  of  God  were 
the  heavens  made ;  and  all  the  hosts  of  them  by  the  breath 
of  His  mouth."  When  the  letters  of  a  word  are  spoken  into 
the  air,  they  shape  themselves  into  substantial  entities. 
Through  the  vibration  of  the  air  they  then  reach  the  ear  of 
the  listener.  The  word  of  God,  being  infinitely  more  effec- 
tive, at  once  carried  creation  with  it.    He  said  and  it  was. 

According  to  Saadia's  interpretation  of  the  Sefer  Yezirah 
the  first  thing  God  created  was  a  certain  intangible,  rarefied, 

Zeitschrift,  V,  299)  ;  another  author  (see  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2207) 
quotes  16  instead  of  18,  see  the  Bibliography,  p.  312.  For  more  par- 
ticulars on  this  subject  see  A.  Epstein,  RE  J.,  XXI  (1890),  92-97; 
XXII,  1-4;  Briill,  Jahrhiicher,  VII,  117;  Maker,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  II 
(1911-1912),  p.  479,  n.  99. 

■"^Saadia  uses  here  the  Greek  word  (ND:nQ''"'"l  =  5ca0pa7/Aa), 
hence  also  the  translator  Moses  of  Lucena ;  see  Steinschneider, 
Hehraische  Uhersetzimgen,  p.  448,  and  Epstein,  /.  c,  XXI,  p.  93,  n.  4. 

*^^  The  first  two  paragraphs  of  this  chapter  (69-74)  are  given  also 
by  Judah  b.  Barzillai,  pp.  177-179,  and  partly  by  Moses  Tachau,  Ozar 
Nechmad,  II,  66  f.  (see  below,  pp.  281  ff.,  358). 


i88  SAADIA  GAON 

pneumatic  or  ethereal  substances,'^^  which  differs  from  the 
tangible  air  that  surrounds  us  by  its  greater  tenuity  and 
sublimated  quality.  The  next  step  was  the  creation  of  the 
atmospheric  air.  At  this  stage  the  alphabet,  or  rather  the 
words  of  God  formed  therefrom,  became  the  active  instru- 
ments of  creation,  the  air  serving  as  the  medium  for  the 
transmission  of  God's  will. 

As  pointed  out  before  (pp.  178,  182),  Saadia  does  not 
accept  this  theory  in  full.  According  to  him  there  were 
no  prior  and  posterior  stages  in  the  process  of  creation, 
but  all  sprang  into  potential  existence  at  once,  and  the 
Biblical  account  of  a  six  days'  duration  refers  only  to 
the  gradual  development  into  reality.  But  he  seems  to 
have  admitted  the  differentiation  between  the  ethereal  sub- 
stance and  the  atmospheric  air,  which  he  imputes  to  the 
author  of  the  Sefer  Yezirah.  He  expatiates  consider- 
ably upon  the  subject,  and  in  connection  therewith  en- 
deavors to  prove  also  the  omnipresence  of  God  and  to  show 
God's  relation  to  the  universe.**"    The  pneumatic  substance,  or 

*^  Saadia  uses  various  terms  to  designate  this  substance,  as  pecu- 
liar, simple,  subtle,  second,  air. 

**"  Lambert,  p.  vii,  contends  that  Saadia  had  given  up  this  theory 
when  writing  the  Kitah  al-'Amdnat,  or  had  never  recognized  it. 
"  Dans  son  traite  de  theologie,  Saadya  ne  parle  plus  de  cette  theorie. 
La  il  cherche  a  prouver  la  creation  et  son  corollaire,  I'existence  de 
Dieu,  mais  il  ne  tente  plus  d'exposer  les  relations  de  Dieu  et  du 
monde."  Probably  following  Lambert,  S.  Horovitz,  Uber  den 
EinUuss  der  griechischen  Philosophie  auf  die  Entwicklung  des 
Kalam,  Breslau,  1909,  p.  43,  likewise  asserts  that  there  is  no  trace 
of  that  theory  in  Saadia's  main  philosophic  work.  Both  Lambert 
and  Horovitz,  however,  overlooked  or  misunderstood  the  parallel 
passages,  'Amdndt,  pp.  88,  91  (Emilnot,  Leipzig,  1864,  pp.  46,  48),  es- 
pecially p.  108,  11.  i-SiEtnunot,  p.  55,  11.  32  ff. ;  Tafsir,  p.  71)  which, 
though  not  so  explicit  as  in  the  Tafsir,  are  nevertheless  based  on  the 
same  theory,  and  can  only  be  understood  in  the  light  thereof ;  comp. 
'Amdnat,  p.  88,  11.  12  ff.,  and  Tafsir,  p.  70,  top  (Lambert's  translation, 
p.  91,  is  here  incomplete)  ;  'Amdndt,  p.  88,  1.  3,  and  Tafsir,  p.  72  (94), 
1.  II,  and  especially  'Amdndt,  p.  91,  11.  17  ff.,  and  Tafsir,  p.  yz  (95,  bot- 
tom), 11.  9  f.  (the  text,  1.  II,  gives  no  sense,  for  ^yjt  D^  X»:)J<1  is  prob- 
ably to  be  read  ^yi  XOJXl).  Guttmann  (Saadia,  pp.  119,  127)  cor- 
rectly recognized  the  connection  between  the  two  works,  but  failed  to 
see  that  the  passage,  Emilnot,  p.  48.  is  likewise  part  of  the  theory  that 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  189 

ether,  which  he  probably  adopted  from  the  Stoics,*"^  per- 
vades all  existence,  even  the  interior  of  the  most  solid  bodies. 
It  is  through  the  medium  of  this  sublimated  air  that  God  is 
omnipresent ;  it  is,  figuratively  speaking,  "  the  throne  of 
God's  majesty,"  "'  the  agency  of  the  divine  spirit  that  ani- 
mates and  sustains  all  creation.  Scripture  therefore  says 
(Psalms,  103,  19),  "  God  hath  estabhshed  His  throne  in  the 
heavens ;  and  His  kingdom  ruleth  over  all."  In  this  sense 
Jerusalem,''"  the  city  from  which  God  sent  His  messages  to 
the  world,  is  called  "  the  throne  of  God  "  (Jeremiah,  3,  17). 
The  same  all-pervading  ethereal  substance  is  often  designated 
in  Scriptures  by  the  name  Kahod,  "  glory,"  as  it  is  said 
(Isaiah,  6,  3),  "  the  whole  earth  is  full  of  His  glory."  It  is 
by  means  of  this  "  finer  air  "  that  the  word  of  God  was  com- 
municated to  the  prophets,  and  that  all  the  miraculous 
phenomena  became  visible  to  their  eyes.  The  Jewish 
nation  later  coined  the  special  term  Shekinah  (n^^'D^),  which 
also  designates  this  imperceptible  medium  of  power,  the 
subtle  air,  charged,  as  it  were,  with  divinity,  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  the  perceptible  atmospheric  air,  which  serves  as  a 
vehicle  for  its  manifestations.  Even  after  the  cessation  of 
prophecy,  the  divine  spirit  continued  to  manifest  itself, 
though  in  a  lesser  degree,  to  the  sages  of  the  nation.  During 
this  period  the  im_perceptible  substance,  which  thus  establishes 
the  relation  between  God  and  the  pious  ones,  is  called  "  the 
Holy  Spirit"  (^1?^  nn),  or  "Echo"  (^1P  Dl),  that  is, 
the  resonance  of  God's  voice.*** 

attributes  to  the  air  or  ether  a  high  degree  of  divinity.  Hence 
Guttmann's  efforts  (pp.  113  f.)  to  explain  the  reason  why  Saadia 
discussed  the  matter  in  that  place. 

**^  Comp.  Horovitz,  Uber  den  Einfluss,  etc.,  p.  42 ;  Goldziher,  REJ., 
XLII,  184. 

**^Comp.  'Amanat,  pp.  99  f.,  102,  104,  106  (Emilndt,  pp.  51,  52, 
bottom,  53,  55). 

*^^  Arabic  al-Kuds  (Tafsir,  p.  73,  top),  which  is  the  name  of  Jeru- 
salem, misunderstood  by  Lambert,  p.  95,  who  translates  sanctuaire; 
comp.  'Amanat,  p.  143    {yz)- 

*"' Tafsir,  ]).  73  (95). 


190  S  A  AD  I A  GAON 

The  foregoing  glorification  of  the  imperceptible  air  as  the 
omnipresent  divine  spirit  might  easily  lead  to  grave  mis- 
understanding. For  in  spite  of  Saadia's  cautious  remark  that 
the  imperceptible  air  itself  was  created,  and  that  his  theory 
is  only  to  be  taken  as  a  metaphoric  presentation  of  the  idea 
of  God's  omnipresence,  the  doctrine  borders  dangerously  on 
pantheism.  Saadia  is  well  aware  of  this  danger,  and  there- 
fore endeavors  to  save  the  personality  of  God  as  a  distinct 
entity,  in  no  way  immersed  in  the  universe.  In  order  to 
reach  some  approximate  idea  of  God's  relation  to  the  world, 
he  says,*^'  we  must,  in  the  first  place,  compare  His  presence 
in  the  universe  with  the  presence  of  life  in  the  animal  or 
human  body.  Just  as  there  is  life  in  every  particle  of  the 
body,  so  God  is  in  every  atom  of  the  universe.  He  is  there- 
fore described  in  the  Bible  (Daniel,  12,  7)  as  the  life  of  the 
world  (D^iyn  "•n).'""  We  then  proceed  a  step  farther  and 
conceive  God  as  the  life-governing  principle,  which  in  the 
human  body  is  the  intellect.  God  thus  becomes  "  the  intel- 
lect of  the  world."  The  imperceptible  air,  of  which  we  spoke, 
is  the  vitality  of  the  entire  cosmos,  permeating  and  vivifying 
all  its  parts,  just  as  life  permeates  the  living  organism.  But 
above  this  vitality  stands  a  spiritual  power  which  controls 
its  actions  and  gives  it  direction,  as  is  obviously  the  case  in 
the  life  of  the  individual.  We  may  draw  further  compari- 
sons and  say,  that  just  as  the  human  intellect  is  not  divided 
by  the  division  of  the  body  and  does  not  perish  with  it,  so 
God,  the  intellect  of  the  world,  is  not  afifected  by  the  divisi- 
bility of  the  latter,  and  does  not  cease  to  exist,  though  it 
should  disappear.  Moreover,  as  the  intellect,  though  per- 
vading every  spark  of  life,  its  next  substratum,  is  nevertheless 
distinctly  above  it,  so  that  life  is  actually  guided  by  intellect, 

*^'^  Tafsir,  p.  70   (91,  bottom),  11.  4  ff. 

**'This  interpretation  of  the  verse  as  well  as  the  philosophic  idea 
underlying  it,  without  making  use,  however,  of  the  air  as  a  medium, 
were  taken  over  by  Maimonides,  Daldlat,  I,  chaps.  69,  72  (Munk, 
Guide,  I,  321,  371),  who  does  not  mention,  however,  his  source;  see 
above,  notes  399,  416,  and  below,  notes  450,  472a,  473r  494  5i5,  54i^v 
578. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  191 

similarly  God — though  present  in  all  parts  of  nature  by  means 
of  the  imperceptible  air,  His  immediate  agency — is  neverthe- 
less the  extra-mundane  guiding  spirit  of  all.  Finally,  as  the 
intellect  is  not  defiled  by  the  uncleanness  and  other  imper- 
fections of  the  body,  so  the  Creator  is  untouched  by  the 
soilure  and  impurities  of  the  world.*'^ 

It  may  be  surprising,  but  it  is  nevertheless  true,  that  if 
Saadia's  presentation  and  solution  of  this  most  important 
problem  be  stripped  of  its  Oriental  floridity  and  ornateness, 
the  doctrine  here  propounded  will  be  found  to  be  much  the 
same  as  that  of  the  German  philosopher  Schopenhauer.  The 
imperceptible  air  is  but  an  expression  for  the  dynamic  energy 
active  in  all  organic  and  inorganic  nature,  constantly  pro- 
ducing and  reproducing  Hfe — in  the  phraseology  of  Scho- 
penhauer, the  zvill  to  live.  The  difference  between  Saadia 
and  Schopenhauer  is  not  in  the  definition  and  conception 
of  the  power  in  question,  but  only  as  regards  its  origin. 
According  to  Saadia  the  will — and  it  should  here  be  added 
that  Saadia  uses  this  term  {mashi'ah,  'irddah)  repeatedly**''* 
to  designate  the  imperceptible  air — was  implanted  by  God  in 
nature  for  a  special  purpose,  and  its  workings  are  everlast- 
ingly superintended  and  directed  by  Him.  According  to 
Schopenhauer  the  will  is  a  blind,  unconscious  power,  working 
to  no  purpose  and  gaining  consciousness  only  in  the  higher 
stages  of  existence,  where  it  becomes  mind,  as  in  man.  The 
reason  for  this  difference  is  obvious.  The  pious  Gaon  of 
Sura  could  not  afford  to  lose  his  personal  God.  He  fared 
better  for  it.  For  the  Jewish  sage  could  present  his  philos- 
ophy with  a  smile,  while  the  German  thinker  was  bound  to 
plunge  himself  and  his  followers  into  a  world  of  philosophic 
pessimism. 

In  keeping  with  the  text  of  the  Sefer  Yedrah  the  philo- 
sophic exposition  is  here  again  interrupted  to  give  place  to  a 

**'  Tafsir,  pp.  70-71  (92  f.)  ;  comp.  Horovitz,  /.  c,  pp.  42  f.,  who 
adduces  some  parallels  from  Greek  and  other  authors ;  Kaufmann,  in 
his  Notes  on  the  ''''DD  of  Judah  b.  Barzillai,  pp.  340  f. 

'"^  Tafsir,  p.  69,  11.  16  f . ;  70,  11.  2,  15. 


192  SAADIA  GAON 

lengthy  paragraph  (pp.  75-9)  on  Hebrew  grammar  and 
phonetics,  which  is  of  importance  for  the  history  of  that 
science.  Saadia  refers  twice  to  his  main  work  on  Hebrew 
grammar  {Kiituh  al-lugah)  and  gives  extracts  therefrom, 
the  more  valuable  as  the  book  in  its  entirety  is  lost.""* 

In  a  following  paragraph  (pp.  80-84)  Saadia  shows  him- 
self to  have  been  familiar  with  the  astronomical  literature 
of  his  time.  He  gives  the  various  measurements  of  the 
planets  and  other  stars  as  compared  with  the  size  of  the 
earth.  The  circumference  of  the  latter  is  given  as  being 
nearly  20,000  miles.""^  As  the  x\rabic  mile  is  about  300  meters 
longer  than  the  English,  the  measure  is  about  the  same  as  that 
given  by  modern  scientists,  namely,  25,000  English  miles. 
Saadia  concludes  that  these  measures  were  established  by 
ancient  scholars  with  the  help  of  instruments  and  by  mathe- 
matical computations."^ 

The  last  four  chapters  of  the  Sefer  Yezirah  (pp.  92-105), 
are  treated  summarily,  Saadia  limiting  himself  for  the  most 
part  to  the  interpretation  of  difficult  words  and  phrases. 
Some  of  these  interpretations  are  forced  and  can  hardly 
be  accepted,  although  nothing  better  can  be  offered.  There 
occur,  however,  numerous  linguistic  remarks  of  interest,"^' 
as  also  some  references  of  importance.  Thus  Saadia's  ref- 
erence to  a  book  dealing  with  the  decorative  "  crowns  "  of 
certain  letters  in  the  Torah  scrolls  (T^in  "IQD),  is  the  earliest 

***  This  paragraph  was  published  by  Neubauer  and  later,  with  a 
Hebrew  translation,  by  Harkavy,  for  which  see  the  Bibliography, 
p.  356. 

**^Tafsir,  p.  84  (107),  1.  12;  comp,  Lambert,  p.  x. 

**"  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  Saadia's  opinion  ( Tafsir,  p.  %2> 
(106),  end  of  §  4)  "the  scholars  properly  choose  mathematics  and 
geometry  as  the  first  subjects  of  instruction,  because  they  are  the 
origin  of  all  sciences."  This  view  was  also  adopted  by  Maimonides 
Daldlat,  I,  34  (Munk,  Guide,  I,  321)  ;  comp.  Malter,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol. 
I  (1910-1911),  pp.  491,  n.  138;  492,  n.  143.  The  same  view  is 
expressed  in  the  Commentary  on  the  Sefcr  Yesirah  attributed  to 
Dunash  Ibn  Tamim,  London,  1902,  p.  16. 

^'^  So  on  p.  94  (115)  (discussed  by  Derenbourg,  Manuel,  p.  139, 
n.  6);  97  (116),  102  (119). 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  I93 

known/"  He  speaks  also  of  people  who  believe  in  the 
efficacy  of  amulets  (pV^P),  and  suggests  the  origin  of  the 
belief/''  In  the  sixth  chapter  he  discusses  in  detail  the 
functions  of  various  internal  organs  of  the  human  body, 
showing  his  acquaintance  with  Arabic  works  on  the  sub- 
ject, to  which  he  refers  in  another  passage  as  "  books  of 
anatomy  "  (kutiib  al-tashrih)  *^ 

2.  Kitdb  al-Amdnat  wa't-Ftikaddt  (n«Jfc5D^?^i?  nxriD 
ni<i«pnx;i?^«"i,  in  Hebrew:  ninni  ni:)iaxn  nQD),  "Book 
of  Philosophic  Doctrines  and  Religious  Beliefs,"  ^  Saadia's 
most  important  philosophic  work,  written  in  Bagdad  dur- 
ing the  time  of  his  seclusion,  in  933.*''*    The  printed  Arabic 

*^^Tafsir,  p.  94  (114).  The  book  was  published  with  a  Latin 
Introduction  by  J.  J.  L.  Barges,  Paris,  1866  (in  an  entirely  different 
recension  also  in  the  nOM  lltriD,  pp.  674-685;  comp.  p.  800),  pre- 
ceded by  a  lengthy  essay  on  the  origin  of  the  book  by  Senior  Sachs ; 
comp.  Barges,  Introduction,  pp.  X  f.;  Schechter,  Abot  di  R.  Nathan, 
p.  xi;  Dukes,  D''Dnp  ^IIJ,  p.  24;  Steinschneider,  Hehrdische  Uber- 
setzungen,  p.  443,  n.  514;  Vorlesungen  iiber  die  Kunde  hebrdischer 
Handschriften,  pp.  4  f .  The  book  is  also  mentioned  in  an  ancient 
Hst,  JQR.,  XIII,  55,  no.  90;  Wertheimer,  D-'tJ'mD  \:^?'? ,  p.  13.  None 
of  the  editors  knew  that  the  book  was  quoted  by  Saadia ;  see  above, 
note  52. 

*^Tafsir,  pp.  89  (III),  94  (ii4). 

*^Tafsir,  p.  91  (114),  1.  14;  also  in  'Amdndt,  p.  201  {Emunot,  pp. 
100  f.)  ;  comp.  below,  Bibliography,  VII,  p.  398. 

***  The  Hebrew  title  has  been  variously  translated  by  recent  authors 
and  mostly  mistranslated.  The  word  PIJIDX  usually  means  behef, 
faith,  or  creed.  Ibn  Tibbon,  however,  imitating  the  Arabic  'arndndt, 
used  it  in  the  sense  of  a  philosophic  doctrine,  or  system  of  belief;  see 
Saadia's  own  definition,  p.  11,  11.  4f.,  Emunot,  p.  6,  1.  7,  where,  how- 
ever, ^J'1D^?  stands  for  i'tikdd,  not  'amdnah,  showing  that  Ibn  Tibbon 
used  the  Hebrew  term  indiscriminately  for  both.  See  Steinschneider, 
//.  B.,  XI,  p.  141,  n.  3,  end;  XXI,  19;  Hebrdische  Uebersetzungen, 
p.  439,  n.  482. 

*"^*  The  date  of  composition  is  derived  from  a  passage  in  the  work 
itself,  p.  72,  Hebrew,  p.  Z7  (here  and  in  the  following  quotations  of 
the  Hebrew  text  the  edition  of  Slucki,  Leipzig,  1864,  is  referred  to). 
For  the  literature  regarding  the  date  see  Landauer,  p.  v,  and  the 
numerous  references  given  by  Steinschneider,  /.  c,  p.  439,  n.  483. 

13 


194  SAADIA  GAON 

text  covers  320  pages  of  the  usual  octavo  size.  The  book 
seems  to  have  originally  been  written  and  issued  in  sep- 
arate monographs,  later  combined  by  the  author  into  an 
organic  whole  preceded  by  a  general  Introduction.  Traces 
of  this  development  are  still  found  in  various  parts  of  the 
book.*^  In  its  present  form  the  work  consists,  apart  from 
the  long  Introduction  (pp.  1-30),  of  ten  distinct  treatises 
makdlat),  each  bearing  a  special  title,  indicating  the  subject 
treated  thereunder.  The  seventh  treatise  is  still  extant  in  two 
different  recensions,  the  one  probably  forming  the  original 
monograph  and  the  other  being  a  recast  thereof  to  suit  the 
plan  of  the  bigger  work.*'^  In  the  following  analysis  I 
shall  refer  to  the  individual  treatises  by  the  more  general 
term  of  chapters."^ 

GENERAL   CHARACTERISTICS 

One  of  the  main  features  of  this  great  work  of  Saadia 
is  its  fundamental  theory,  that  philosophy  and  religion  not 
only  do  not  contradict  one  another,  but  from  the  very  start 

*^  Thus  several  of  the  chapters  are  quoted  in  the  work  itself 
under  their  respective  special  titles,  although  this  is  not  carried 
through  with  consistency;  see  'Amandt,  pp.  55,  top,  116,  1.  13 
{Emunot,  pp.  29,  60):    ^nV^t?    nxn^PIVH    nyty,  i.  e.  chapter  4; 

Am.,  p.  77. 1. 10  {Em.,  p.  41) :  D^^^v^j^  fiin  n«i  =  tj^nnn  nyti^  (so 

read  for  the  corrupt  VlDn  '~\V^),  i.  e.  chapter  i;  Ajh.,  pp.  159,  1.  9; 
254,  bottom  (Em.,  pp.  81,  129):  "l^mn^X  (2X2)  Ji^XPD^nDKD 
nn^n  OVii^)  i.  e.  chapter  2 ;  comp.  Kaufmann,  Attrihutenlehre,  pp.  87, 
146,  and  p.  504  ad  locum,  and  below,  Bibliography,  section  VI,  p.  384, 
no.  4.  The  third  chapter  seems  to  have  been  known  as  a  separate 
book  under  the  title  Kitdh  al-Shardi'  (Book  of  Laws),  see  the 
Bibliography,  section  VII,  pp.  400  f.,  while  the  tenth  chapter  is  desig- 
nated {Am.,  p.  286,  bottom,  Em.,  p.  147),  as  Kitdb  Zuhd,  int  i^?n3  = 
n*l65''''nD  1QD,  i.  e.  Book  of  Abstinence,  Ethics,  see  below,  note  530. 
In  Hebrew  too  several  of  the  chapters  circulated  as  separate 
treatises  (see  below,  p.  247,  bottom,  267,  and  the  Bibliography, 
pp.  362  f.,  nos.  1-2;  367,  no.  4;  395,  40i)- 

*°^  See  the  Bibliography,  p.  360. 

*''In  the  older  Hebrew  translation,  the  so-called  Paraphrase,  the 
individual  treatises  are  called  n^5tt  (see  Zunz,  Gesammelte 
Schriften,  III,  232),  while  Ibn  Tibbon  uses  IDt^D. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  195 

were  destined  to  help  and  supplement  each  other  in  the  finding 
and  propagation  of  truth.  For  both  reason  and  religion 
sprang  from  the  same  divine  source;  hence  neither  one,  if 
properly  used  or  interpreted,  can  teach  anything  that  is 
incompatible  with  the  teachings  of  the  other.  By  religion 
Saadia  naturally  understands  the  faith  revealed  to  Moses 
on  Mount  Sinai  and  later  amplified  and  developed  by  the 
divinely  inspired  prophets  of  Israel. 

With  this  theory  as  a  basis  Saadia  sets  out  to  examine  the 
various  philosophic  doctrines  which  seem  to  be  at  variance 
with  the  teachings  of  the  Mosaic  religion,  and  endeavors 
to  prove  that  the  supposed  antagonism  between  the  two  is 
due  either  to  fallacious  reasoning  or  to  a  misinterpretation 
of  religious  sources.  It  is  therefore  a  matter  of  prime  im- 
portance to  find  out  the  criteria  by  which  we  are  to  recog- 
nize the  ways  of  sound  reasoning,  as  well  as  to  establish 
certain  rules  for  the  proper  interpretation  of  the  Biblical 
documents. 

All  our  knowledge  is  commonly  derived  from  three 
sources:  i.  sense-perception;  2.  direct  cognition  or  appre- 
hension of  the  mind  (intuitive,  or  immediate  knowledge)  ; 
3.  syllogistic  reasoning  (inferential,  or  mediate  knowl- 
edge)."*^'" In  addition  to  these  three  general  sources  of  knowl- 
edge "  we,  the  followers  of  monotheism,"  recognize  also  a 
fourth  one,  i.  e.,  the  Bible.  If,  as  often  happens,  the  word  of 
Scriptures  appears  to  contradict  what  we  had  assumed  as  true 
on  the  basis  of  one  or  the  other  of  the  three  general  sources 
of  truth,  or  even  of  all  of  them,  it  becomes  our  duty  first 
to  submit  the  assumed  truth  to  a  careful  examination.  For 
it  may  be  found  that  it  is  based  either  on  an  imaginary 
experience  or  on  false  reasoning.  If,  upon  conscientious 
revision,  we  still  feel  convinced  that  the  Biblical  word  is 
in  conflict  with  experience  or  reason,  then  we  are  not  only 
entitled,  but  in  duty  bound,  to  interpret  the  Scriptural  pas- 

^^'^  Regarding  this  important  matter  see  Horovitz,  Die  Psychologie, 
etc.,  pp.  48  f.,  and  in  Hermann  Cohen's  Festschrift  (Judaica),  p.  251. 


196  SAADIA  GAON 

sage  in  question  allegorically,  so  as  to  bring  it  into  harmony 
with  the  accepted  truth.*"'' 

The  "  Book  of  Doctrines  and  Beliefs,"  which  is  devoted 
entirely  to  this  work  of  harmonization  between  reason  and 
religion,  thus  assumes  the  character  of  philosophic  her- 
meneutics.  There  is  hardly  a  single  thought  in  the  whole 
book  that  is  not  viewed  in  the  light  of  some  Scriptural  verse, 
which  either  confirms  or  refutes  it.  Even  for  our  recog- 
nition of  the  senses  and  of  reason  as  bearers  of  truth  we 
get  the  authorization,  as  it  were,  from  certain  passages  of  the 
Bible.**"  The  teachings  of  the  Bible,  though  named  by 
Saadia  in  the  fourth  place,  are  actually  recognized  by  him 
as  the  first  and  most  reliable  source  of  truth.  Thus,  at  the 
beginning  of  every  paragraph  in  which  some  new  point  is 
to  be  discussed,  he  quotes  a  verse  or  verses  in  which,  ac- 
cording to  his  opinion,  the  teaching  of  the  Bible  in  the  matter 
is  clearly  stated.  Then  the  contrary  opinions  of  various 
thinkers  are  taken  up  and  considered  from  all  sides,  and 
finally  it  is  proved  that  reason  or  experience  or  both  come 
to  the  support  of  the  Biblical  view.  At  the  end  of  the  para- 
graph additional  verses  are  quoted  and  interpreted  in  a 
way  that  makes  them  corroborate  the  original  statement. 
It  is  astounding  with  what  ingenuity  hundreds  of  verses 
taken  from  all  parts  of  Scripture,  are  made  to  bear  on  the 
remotest  ideas  and  most  subtle  philosophic  questions. 
Nearly  thirteen  hundred  verses,  approximately  the  number 
of  verses  in  the  Book  of  Isaiah,  are  thus  interpreted.    It  is 

*"'See  Am.,  p.  83,  bottom,  Em.,  pp.  44:  NV?O^C^  HD  ^D  nb«   ^^331 

v\i;v^  IN  iJt^nn  *i^£Dn  jitj^^^  Dnn^^n  1J^J^?  ijnmni  onson 

"  In  general  I  say :  any  description  of  God  or  of  His  actions  occur- 
ring in  the  Scriptures  or  in  the  words  of  others  among  us,  the  mono- 
theists,  which  is  found  to  contradict  what  is  demanded  by  sound 
reasoning,  is  undoubtedly  a  figure  of  speech."  The  same  idea  is 
expressed  with  more  detail,  p.  212  (109)  ;  (comp.  Guttmann,  Saadia, 
p.   221,  n.   I),  so   also  Em.,  p.   133:    ^'^  HD^   D^DDD   t^'ns    ^Dl 

*^  Am.,  p.  14,  11.  6  ff. ;  Em.,  pp.  7  f . 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  197 

obvious  that  this  work  is  of  great  importance  also  for  the 
history  of  philosophic  exegesis. 

While  Saadia  is  so  profuse  in  the  use  of  the  Bible,  he 
refrains  conspicuously  from  bringing  into  play  the  vast 
treasures  of  traditional  literature.  In  the  whole  book  there 
are  only  twenty-nine  direct  quotations  from  the  Mishnah 
and  both  Talmudim.  Nearly  all  of  them  occur  in  the 
eschatological  chapters,  which  deal  with  specifically  Jewish 
problems."*"^  The  reason  for  this  procedure  is  in  all  proba- 
bility to  be  looked  for  in  the  fact  that  the  book  was  intended 
to  carry  conviction  not  only  to  the  adherents  of  traditional 
Judaism,  but  even  more  to  those  who  antagonized  it,  as  the 
Karaites  and  other  sectaries,  whom  the  author  so  forcibly! 
describes  in  the  Introduction  to  the  work.  It  should  bel 
noted,  however,  that  many  of  Saadia's  views,  particularly! 
in  the  eschatological  chapters,  are  based  entirely  on  passages 
in  Talmud  and  Midrash,  although  he  neither  quotes  nor 
refers  to  them.*'"'     For  completeness'  sake  it  may  here  be 

*"  The  same  attitude  toward  the  Talmud  is  observable  in  Saadia's 
Bible  Commentaries,  see  Derenbourg,  MWJ.,  VII,  133.  They  too, 
like  the  'Amandt,  were  probably  calculated  to  impress  also  those 
who  did  not  believe  in  Jewish  traditions;  comp.  notes  305,  470.  In 
our  work  Saadia  occasionally,  as  it  were,  excuses  himself  for  not 
making  more  use  of  traditional  literature,  saying  that  the  passages 
are  so  many  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  discuss  them ; 
see  'Amandt,  chapter  VII,  in  the  edition  of  Bacher,  Steinschneider- 
Festschrift,  p.  109,  top;  Emunoty  p.  114,  further  'Atn.,  p.  223,  1.  5; 
Em.,  p.  133.  Aside  from  the  29  direct  citations  there  are  some 
instances  in  which  Saadia  merely  states  that  the  Rabbis  expressed  a 
certain  view,  without  quoting  a  passage;  see  p.  175  (88),  1.  14;  204 
(102),  11.  15  f.  (allusion  to  b.  'Abodah  Zarah,  2.0b);  see  also  the 
references  above,  note  324. 

*"  The  instances  are  too  numerous  to  quote.  For  the  sake  of  illus- 
tration I  refer  to  Am.,  p.  181,  11.  2-7,  Em.,  p.  91, 11.  2-5  {Baba  Kamma, 
946)  ;  Am.,  p.  214,  11.  7  fif.,  Em.,  p.  114,  11.  4  ff.  {Synhedrin,  gib)  ;  Am., 
p.  278,  Em.,  p.  141  ('Erubin,  iga;  Shabbat,  153a)  ;  see  also  below, 
note  485.  On  the  other  hand  Saadia  at  times  tacitly  opposes  the 
Talmud,  see  Am.,  p.  182  (91)  the  interpretation  of  Exodus,  20,  12, 
Deuter.,  22,  7,  as  against  Kiddushin,  39  b;  comp.  below,  notes  482, 
518,  603. 


198  S  A  AD  I A  GAON 

added  that  he  quotes  once  the  Book  of  Sirach,"'"  several 
times  the  Targum  Onkelos,""'  and  once  refers  to  three  old 
liturgical  pieces  '"^  that  are  still  recited  on  the  Day  of  Atone- 
ment. Of  his  own  works  he  mentions  his  commentaries  on 
Genesis,  Exodus,  Job,  and  on  the  Sefer  Yezirah,  and  a 
''  Refutation  of  Hiwi  of  Balkh."  '''  No  names  are  mentioned 
in  the  book,  with  the  exception  of  those  of  Anan,  the  foun- 
der of  Karaism  (once),  and  of  the  Karaite  Benjamin 
Nahawandi   (twice). '^ 

The  foregoing  characterization  of  Saadia's  method  in 
the  work  under  consideration  brings  out  the  fact  that  his 
original  purpose  in  composing  it  was  not  to  create  a  new  and 
independent  system  of  cosmic  philosophy  on  the  basis  of 
the  many  Greek  and  ]\Iuhammedan  doctrines  he  consulted, 
but  to  define  the  position  of  Judaism  in  the  light  of  these 
doctrines  and  to  demonstrate  that  it  rests  on  much  firmer 
ground  than  all  other  proposed  solutions  of  the  great  world- 
problems.  In  pursuing  this  aim  Saadia  could  not  afiford  to 
bind  himself  to  any  of  the  existing  philosophic  systems  in 
its  entirety,  but  had  to  adopt  from  each  one  those  elements 
which  in  his  opinion  were  essential  to  Judaism  and  compatible 
with  his  understanding  thereof.  Whether  an  idea  originated 
with  Plato  or  Aristotle  or  in  the  mind  of  some  Muhammedan 
thinker  was  immaterial,  so  long  as  it  could  stand  the  test 
of  reason  and  experience,  and  was  ipso  facto  consonant 
with  the  teachings  of  the  Bible.  Saadia's  method  in  this 
work  was  thus  that  of  an  eclectic.  This  is  not  to  be  taken, 
however,  in  the  technical  sense  of  the  term.    For  he  did  not 

*^Am.,  p.  301  (153)  ;  comp.  Guttman,  Saadia,  p.  274,  n.  3;  below, 
p.  252,  no.  6,  end. 

^Mm.,  pp.  95,  178,  264  (50,  89,  134)  ;  comp.  above,  note  311. 

"^Am.,  p.  179  (90)  ;  comp.  Guttmann,  Saadia,  p.  187,  n.  i,  where 
further  references  are  given. 

**  Commentary  on  Genesis:  Am.,  pp.  20  (10),  Z7  (20),  84  (44)  • 
on  Exodus:  p.  105  (54);  on  Job:  p.  15  (8);  on  Sefer  Yezirah: 
p.  27   (20);  Polemic  against  Hiwi:    p.  2>7   (20). 

^''Anan:  p.  190  (96)  see  below,  p.  223;  Benjamin:  p.  201  (100) 
see  below,  p.  227.  On  the  same  page  he  refers  also  to  "  Books  (or 
Book)  of  Anatomy,"  see  above,  note  454. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  199 

aim  at  eclecticism  as  such,  but  was  concerned  only  in  the 
interpretation  and  systematization  of  the  Jewish  religion. 
Any  idea  that  lent  itself  to  that  purpose  and  helped  to  es- 
tablish the  religious  truth  was  welcome  material.  However, 
the  question  whether  or  not  Saadia  should  be  designated 
as  an  eclectic  is  mere  quibbling  over  words,  since  it  is  gener- 
ally admitted  that  in  his  philosophic  works  he  drew  upon 
a  variety  of  systems,  which  on  the  points  in  question,  do  not 
agree  with  one  another.  Saadia's  merit  in  the  field  of 
philosophy  is  not  to  be  sought  in  any  originality  of  his 
as  an  inventor  and  propagator  of  new  philosophic  doc- 
trines, but  in  the  extraordinary  skill  with  which  he  was  able 
to  bring  a  vast  amount  of  foreign  thought  into  subservience 
to  the  great  religious  Weltanschauung,  which  he  v/as  about 
to  build  up  for  the  benefit  of  his  people.  For  it  is  not 
always  the  original  content  of  a  thought  that  lends  it 
particular  value  in  the  realm  of  human  knowledge.  As 
often,  it  is  the  new  aspect  under  which  an  idea  is  conceived 
and  the  individual  interpretation  put  upon  it,  that  give 
it  a  special  character  and  make  it  stimulative  of  fresh 
thought  and  new  complexes  of  ideas.  From  this  point  of 
view  Saadia  is  justly  recognized  as  the  creator  of  a  new 
epoch  in  the  history  of  the  philosophy  of  religion.  It  was  his 
"  Book  of  Doctrines  and  Beliefs  "  that  gave  the  impetus  to 
the  subsequent  development  of  the  whole  of  Jewish  philo- 
sophic literature. 

CONTENTS  OF  THE  Kitctb  al-Amdndt*''^ 

A  detailed  presentation  of  the  full  content  of  this  work, 
tempting  as  it  is,  cannot  here  be  entered  upon.  Such  an 
attempt  would  require  a  volume  equal  in  size  to  Saadia's. 
Not  even  the  full  development  of  the  main  problems  of  the 

"^^As  the  presentation  of  the  content  of  the  'Amdndt  generally 
follows  the  order  of  the  original  text,  no  references  to  the  passages 
will  be  given,  except  in  the  case  of  direct  quotations  or  in  a  few 
instances  in  which  it  seems  advisable  to  point  out  a  particular 
context.  Parallel  passages  in  the  works  of  later  Hebrew  authors 
will  also  be  referred  to  in  exceptional  instances  only. 


200  SAADIA  GAON 

work,  as  the  unity  of  God,  free-will,  immortality,  and  the 
like,  can  be  undertaken  in  the  limits  set  to  the  present  volume. 
A  brief  summary  of  the  more  important  topics  treated  of  by 
the  author  must  suffice  to  convey  to  the  reader  an  idea  of  the 
substance  and  profundity  of  this  work  and  its  significance  for 
the  history  of  the  mediaeval  philosophy  of  the  Jews  and 
partly  for  that  of  the  whole  scholastic  world. 

In  the  Introduction,  beginning  with  the  usual  laudation 
of  God,****  the  author  first  states  the  causes  which  in  his 
opinion  are  responsible  for  all  the  error  and  confusion  prev- 
alent among  the  people.  They  are  mainly  ignorance  and 
superficiality.  He  then  describes  the  sad  conditions  among 
the  people  at  large  and  especially  among  those  of  his  own 
race  who,  constantly  wavering  in  their  philosophic  opinions 
and  religious  beliefs,  were  unable  to  determine  upon  a  definite 
course.  These  circumstances  led  him  to  the  composition  of 
this  work  which,  he  hoped,  will  prove  a  guide  for  the  per- 
plexed. "  My  heart  grieved  for  mankind,"  ^^^  he  writes, 
''  and  my  soul  was  moved  on  account  of  our  own  people 
Israel,  as  I  saw  in  our  times  many  of  those  who  adhere  to 
their  faith  entertain  impure  beliefs  and  unclear  ideas,  while 
those  who  deny  the  faith  boast  of  their  unbelief  and  tri- 
umphantly deride  the  men  of  truth,  albeit  they  are  themselves 
in  error.  I  saw  men  sunk,  as  it  were,  in  a  sea  of  doubt  and 
overwhelmed  by  the  waves  of  confusion,  and  there  was  no 
diver  to  bring  them  up  from  the  depths  and  no  swimmer  to 
come  to  their  rescue.  But  as  God  has  granted  unto  me  some 
knowledge  by  which  I  can  be  useful  to  them,  and  endowed 
me  with  some  ability  which  I  might  employ  for  their  benefit, 
I  felt  that  to  help  them  was  my  duty  and  guiding  them  aright 
a  moral  obligation  upon  me."  *'' 

^**  See  above,  note  411. 

"**  This  declaration  makes  it  probable  that  the  book  was  intended 
not  only  for  Jews  but  also  for  Muhammedans ;  see  above,  note  461. 

*'''^'Amdndt,  pp.  4  f .  {Emunot,  p.  3)  ;  comp.  Graetz,  History  (En- 
glish), III,  197  f.,  and  especially  Horovitz,  in  Hermann  Cohen's 
Festschrift   {Judaica),  pp.  238  ff. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  201 

Saadia  then  takes  up  the  question  of  why  men  are  made 
subject  to  doubts  and  mistakes  in  their  search  after  truth 
instead  of  being  given  immediate  truth.  The  answer  is,  that 
immediate  truth  is  only  in  the  power  of  God,  and  for  man 
to  ask  for  it  is  tantamount  to  asking  that  he  be  made  the 
equal  of  his  Creator.  Man  being  part  of  nature,  his  thinking 
must  run  through  the  whole  scale  of  causes  and  effects, 
which  requires  time  and  patience. 

The  author  is  now  prepared  for  the  discussion  of  the  four 
sources  of  knowledge,  as  described  above.  Much  space  is 
devoted  to  the  demonstration  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
three  natural  sources  of  knowledge  should  be  used  in  order 
to  be  assured  of  the  correct  results.  Here,  however,  the 
question  arises :  If  a  man  is  capable  of  arriving  at  the  truth 
by  his  own  reasoning,  what  purpose  was  there  in  teaching 
him  the  same  truth  by  religion  ?  To  this  Saadia  replies  that 
the  majority  of  men  have  not  sufficient  reasoning  power  to 
be  relied  upon,  and  even  those  who  do  possess  it  would  have 
to  go  a  long  way  before  they  could  reach  the  truth  through 
their  unaided  efforts.'"  In  the  meantime  they  would  be  with- 
out trustworthy  guidance.  Revealed  religion  was,  therefore, 
an  absolute  necessity.  It  gave  to  the  people,  so  to  say,  a  ready- 
made  truth,  coming  from  God  Himself,  and  provided  them 
with  a  complete  system  of  rules  and  regulations  by  which 
to  govern  their  lives.  This  system  has  the  advantage  of 
affording  a  safe-conduct  also  to  the  uneducated,  to  women, 
and  to  those  who  by  reason  of  youth  or  incapacity  cannot 
avail  themselves  of  philosophy.    Adherence  to  religion  does 

*"  In  the  third  chapter  of  the  work  Saadia  takes  up  the  same  ques- 
tion in  connection  with  prophecy  and  gives  additional  reasons 
for  the  necessity  of  religion.  Everybody,  Saadia  argues,  may 
recognize  the  idea  of  justice,  and  it  would  seem  that  no  special 
messenger  is  needed  to  recommend  it  to  our  reason.  However,  it  is 
not  a  question  of  the  idea  as  such,  but  of  the  proper  ways  and  modes 
in  which  it  is  to  be  carried  into  practice.  For  these  you  must  have 
rules  and  regulations  based  on  divine  authority,  so  as  to  command 
the  respect  and  the  obedience  of  the  people;  comp.  Guttmann, 
Saadia,  140  f .  Judah  Halevi  adopted  this  view  from  Saadia,  see 
Kuzari,  I,  79;  II,  56;  III,  7;  see  also  the  following  two  notes. 


202  SAADIA  GAON 

not,  however,  free  us  from  the  duty  of  thinking  for  ourselves. 
On  the  contrary,  only  when  we  examine  its  teachings  by  the 
light  of  reason,  can  we  grasp  their  true  meaning  and  fulfill 
their  demands.*"'' 

Saadia  has  a  peculiar  fondness  for  numbers.  In  this  book 
he  often  carries  it  to  an  extreme.  Like  a  conscientious  book- 
keeper he  puts  upon  record  the  number  of  all  the  arguments 
and  counter-arguments  for  and  against  a  theory,  keeps 
careful  account  of  the  points  he  has  scored  against  his  op- 
ponents, lays  special  emphasis  on  the  number  of  theories 
about  certain  subjects  and  of  the  causes  that  produce  such 
and  such  effects.  Here,  too,  he  winds  up  the  Introduction  by 
enumerating  eight  causes  that  lead  to  infidelity.*" 

(I)  The  first  chapter,  the  longest  in  the  book,  deals  with 
creation.  After  a  brief  characterization  of  the  great  diffi- 
culties this  problem  offers  to  the  philosophic  investigator,  the 
author  gives  a  full  presentation  of  thirteen  different  theories 
concerning  it.  His  own  theory,  which  according  to  him  is 
that  of  the  Bible,  he  puts  first — that  the  world  was  created  by 
God  ex  nihilo.  To  support  the  Biblical  doctrine  he  adduces 
four  philosophic  proofs,  the  principal  elements  of  which  are 
derived  partly  from  the  writings  of  Aristotle  and  partly  from 
those  of  the  Muhammedan  philosophers  known  in  literature 
under  the  collective  designation  of  Alu'tazilites.  The  remain- 
ing twelve  theories,  which  he  refutes  one  after  the  other,  are 
given  anonymously,  but  they  can  all  be  traced  with  more  or 
less  certainty  to  their  respective  Greek,  Arabic,  and  Persian 
authors. 

*"*  All  this  reasoning  was  tacitly  adopted  by  Maimonides  (Dalalat, 
1,  34)  ;  comp.  Guttmann,  in  Moses  ben  Maimon,  II,  208  ff. 

'"^  The  same  causes  are  enumerated  by  Maimonides,  /.  c.,  who  no 
doubt  followed  Saadia;  see  Guttmann,  /.  c.,  p.  210,  n.  2;  above,  notes 
416,  446. — Guttmann,  Saadia,  p.  53,  n.  i,  has  pointed  out  numerous  pas- 
sages of  the  work  in  which  the  same  playing  with  numbers  occurs. 
This  mystic  love  for  numbers  seems  to  have  made  Saadia  go  to  the 
trouble  of  figuring  out  that  no  less  than  19,169  forms  can  be  derived 
from  every  Hebrew  verb!  Comp,  Geiger,  Jiidische  Zeitschrift, 
IV,  202;  Bacher,  Anfange,  p.  54;  below,  pp.  218,  312,  and  note  531. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  203 

In  the  arrangement  of  these  theories  Saadia  reversed  the 
order  he  had  adopted  for  the  enumeration  of  the  nine  theories 
of  the  world's  creation  in  his  Commentary  on  the  Sefer 
Yezirah.  There,  as  we  have  seen,  he  begins  with  the  theory 
that  he  considers  the  most  objectionable  of  the  nine,  namely, 
the  doctrine  of  the  EternaHsts  (Dahriyya),  who,  asserting 
that  the  world  is  eternal,  deny  creation  altogether.  He  then 
proceeds  according  to  the  respective  degrees  of  unaccep- 
tability  from  the  least  to  the  most  probable,  rejecting  all 
theories  until  he  reaches  the  last,  which  is  his  own. 

In  the  Kitdb  al-Amdndt,  on  the  contrary,  he  states  first 
his  own  view,  which  he  bases  on  the  Bible,  and  then  ar- 
ranges the  following  twelve  theories  on  the  principle  of 
the  least  objectionable  first,  followed  in  turn  by  the  others  in 
the  order  of  their  probability.*''  The  result  is  that  the 
theory  (a  combination  of  atomism  and  Platonism)  which 
in  the  Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yezirah  was  rated  as 
being  next  to  the  most  unreasonable,  appears  here  as  next  to 
the  most  reasonable.  In  both  books  it  is  put  in  the  second 
place !  The  explanation  lies  in  the  fact  that  aside  from  the 
Biblical  theory  (creatio  ex  nihilo) , which,  as  is  to  be  expected, 
occupies  first  place  in  the  one  arrangement  and  last  in  the 
other,  only  two  of  the  other  eight  theories  discussed  in  the 
Sefer  Ye^irah  are  taken  up  also  in  the  Kitdb  al-Amdndt. 
For  the  six  theories  in  the  former  work,  ten  entirely 
different  ones  are  given  in  the  latter.  According  to  the 
standard  set  up  by  the  author  for  the  valuation  of  the  various 
theories,  it  is  proper  that  one  which  in  comparison  to  the 
others  treated  in  the  same  book  should  be  considered  as  com- 
ing near  the  worst,  is  recognized  as  being  close  to  the  best 
of  those  treated   in  the  other  book.     The  same  standard 

*"This  is  not  a  mere  conjecture,  but  is  indicated  clearly  enough 
by  Saadia  himself,  who  at  the  beginning  of  each  refuted  theory 
repeats  the  stereotyped  phrase,  "and  the  adherents  of  this  theory 
are  still  more  ignorant  than  those  of  the  preceding  theory"  (e.  g. 
Am.,  p.  49,  1.  4:  p^lt^^X  ID  ^nilJ?  ■'t^^l^m).  This  remark  is 
missing  only  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  theory,  probably  by 
oversight. 


204  SAADIA  GAON 

required  that  the  theory  of  the  EternaHsts,  the  first  in  the 
Commentary,  be  put  tenth  in  the  present  work. 

The  principles  upon  which  Saadia  built  up  his  stand- 
ard for  the  valuation  of  the  theories  cannot  be  set  forth 
here.  It  would  involve  a  detailed  presentation  of  all  his 
arguments  against  the  theories  themselves,  which  space  for- 
bids."" But  it  has  been  necessary  to  present  the  facts,  since 
they  have  been  heretofore  overlooked.  It  should  also  be 
pointed  out  in  particular  that  the  doctrine  of  the  author  of  the 
Sefer  Yesirah,  for  the  elucidation  of  which  Saadia  had  com.- 
posed  his  Commentary  on  that  work,  is  entirely  disregarded 
in  his  present  enumeration  of  the  theories  on  creation.  This 
is  not  to  be  interpreted,  however,  with  a  recent  writer,  as  a 
proof  that  Saadia  ''  did  not  take  that  doctrine  seriously 
enough  to  include  it  among  the  theories  historically  authen- 
ticated." *'^  Though  he  did  not  identify  himself  with  the 
doctrine  of  the  Sefer  Yezirah,  he  certainly  considered  it 
more  acceptable  than  any  of  those  here  rejected.  Its  omis- 
sion is  due  to  the  fact  that  in  this  work  he  deals  with  the 
one  theory  which  in  his  opinion  was  positively  true  and  with 
those  which  w^ere  positively  wrong.  The  theory  of  the 
Sefer  Yezirah,  on  the  other  hand,  was  recognized  as  tol- 
erable, by  way  of  a  special  exegesis  which  brought  it  essen- 
tially into  harmony  with  the  true  Biblical  theory.  Thus, 
it  was  covered  in  the  exposition  of  the  Biblical  theory, 
making  further  discussion  of  it  superfluous.  Moreover,  the 
Commentary  is  referred  to  by  Saadia  in  another  passage  in 
this  first  chapter  of  the  Kitdh  al-Amdmt .*'''' 

(II)  The  discussions  contained  in  the  first  chapter  led  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  world  was  created.    Hence  there  must 

*"  On  the  whole  see  Guttmann,  Saadia,  pp.  33-75,  which  is  so  far 
the  clearest  presentation  of  the  subject.  Various  points  in 
Guttmann's  presentation  were  severely  criticized  by  D.  Neumark, 
Geschichte  der  jildischen  Philosophie  des  Mittelalters,  Berlin,  1907, 
pp.  460-469.  As  to  his  identification  of  the  tenth  theory  with  that 
of  Aristotle   (p.  468),  see  Horovitz  as  quoted  above,  note  412a. 

*'®  Guttmann,  Saadia,  p.  26. 

*^'  See  above,  note  466. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  205 

be  a  Creator.    The  next  task  was  to  define  the  essence  and 
nature  of  the  Creator,  thus  logically  demonstrated.    This  is 
the  object  of  the  second  chapter,  which  bears  the  heading 
"  Chapter  of  Unity."  At  the  outset  Saadia  tries  to  meet  the 
objection  of  those  who  deny  the  existence  of  God  because  He 
is  not  perceptible  by  the  senses,  the  most  reHable  source  of 
our  knowledge.    It  is  true,  he  says,  that  human  knowledge 
originates  in  mere  sense  impressions,  but  we  all  know  that  it 
never  stops  there.  From  the  most  ordinary  sense  experiences 
which  we  have  in  common  with  the  animals  we  proceed  by 
degrees  to  higher  and  more   abstract  thoughts,   and   the 
farther  we  advance  in  our  upward  course,  the  more  subtle 
become  our  ideas  and  concepts.    This  onward  movement  of 
our  mind  does  not  mean  that  we  are  losing  ground  in  our 
search  after  truth.     On  the  contrary,  with  every  step  for- 
ward the  original  truth  derived  from  experience  becomes 
more  general  and  comprehensive,  embracing  a  multitude  of 
realities.    In  spite  of  incidental  deviations  from  the  straight 
course  in  our  intellectual  pilgrimage  to  the  source  of  ulti- 
mate truth,  we  are  constantly  approaching  nearer  to  the  de- 
sired goal.    There  is,  however,  a  natural  limit  to  such  intel- 
lectual progress.    Man  being  finite,  his  thinking  capacity  must 
be  limited.    A  point  is  reached  at  which  the  ideas  become  so 
subtle  and  abstract  that  they  are  beyond  man's  grasp.    The 
God-idea  is  of  the  utmost  subtlety,  and  hence  past  human 
comprehension.    But,  as  we  have  seen,  the  finer  and  subtler 
an  idea  is,  the  more  truth  and  reality  it  is  bound  to  contain. 
The  transcending  subtlety  of  the  God-idea  is  therefore  in  it- 
self an  irrefutable  proof  of  its  verity.    God  is  the  necessary 
postulate  of  our  reason,  the  ultimate  truth,  the  sum  total 
of  all  reality.     To  demand  that  He  be  perceptible  by  the 
senses  is  a  retrogression  from  the  higher  stages  of  compre- 
hension  to   the    lower   stages   of   animal   sense-perception. 
Indeed,  a  perceivable,  corporeal  God  is  a  contradiction  in 
itself.    What  we  are  looking  for  is  an  extra-mundane  cause 
of  all  existence,  which  necessarily  transcends  the  category 
of  bodies. 


2o6  SAADIA  GAON 

After  these  preliminary  remarks,  Saadia  refutes  some 
other  erroneous  ideas  about  God  that  had  come  to  his  knowl- 
edge, and  then  turns  to  the  discussion  of  the  main  subject,  the 
unity  and  uniqueness  of  God,  involving  the  very  important 
question  of  the  Divine  attributes."'*  The  author  adduces 
numerous  verses  from  the  Scriptures  which  describe  God 
as  One,  excluding  all  plurality  or  diversity  from  His 
nature ;  as  Unique,  excluding  the  existence  of  any  other 
God  besides  Him ;  and  as  living,  omnipotent,  and  omniscient. 
The  Scriptural  testimony  to  the  oneness  of  God  is  substan- 
tiated by  three  positive  proofs  based  upon  reason.  These 
are  followed  by  a  controversy  against  the  doctrine  of  dual- 
ism. The  arguments  against  this  doctrine  serve  indirectly  as 
further  proofs  for  the  doctrine  of  unity.  In  the  ensuing 
paragraph  the  other  three  essential  attributes  of  God  are 
taken  up  for  detailed  discussion.  Special  emphasis  is  laid  on 
the  demonstration  that  life,  omnipotence,  and  omniscience 
do  not  constitute  a  plurality  in  God's  essence.  They  merely 
designate  this  essence  in  accordance  with  the  aspect  under 
which  it  is  viewed.  The  idea  of  a  Creator  necessarily  implies 
life,  power,  and  knowledge.  In  explicating  these  attributes 
we  add  nothing  to  His  essence.  They  are  enumerated 
separately  by  reason  of  a  shortcoming  of  language,  which 
possesses  no  single  term  to  convey  all  of  them  at  once. 
At  this  point  Saadia  enters  upon  a  lengthy  controversy 
against  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  showing  that 
it  originated  from  a  misinterpretation  of  the  same  three 
essential  attributes  of  God.  In  connection  therewith  he 
discusses  and  refutes  the  various  theories  regarding  the 
person  of  Jesus,  evidencing  his  thorough  acquaintance  with 
Christian  polemics  on  this  point. 

Having  estabhshed  the  idea  of  God's  absolute  unity. 
Saadia  devotes  several  pages  to  another  important  matter 

^^*  For  a  detailed  discussion  of  this  subject  see  Kaufmann,  Ge- 
schichte  der  Attributenlehre  in  der  jiidischen  Religionsphilosophie  des 
Mittelalters,  Gotha,  1877,  pp.  1-77;  Neumark,  Geschichte,  II,  Berlin, 
1910,  an  exhaustive  study,  to  which  the  entire  volume  is  devoted ; 
comp.  Guttmann,  Saadia,  pp.  90  ff. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  207 

with  direct  bearing  on  the  problem  under  consideration. 
Numerous  passages  in  the  Bible  speak  of  God  in  terms 
clearly  imphnng  corporeity.  Strictly  taken,  they  contradict 
the  idea  of  a  spiritual  unity.  They  depict  God  as  equipped 
with  human  organs — as  hands,  eyes,  ears — and  possessed  of 
the  qualities,  affections,  and  emotions  characteristic  of  human 
beings.  Saadia  classifies  these  anthropomorphic  terms  under 
the  ten  Aristotelian  categories,  and  shows  that,  as  none  of 
these  categories  is  applicable  to  God,  so  none  of  the  terms 
falling  under  them  can  be  literally  applied  to  Him.  By 
numerous  quotations  from  the  Bible  he  proves  that  in  the 
ordinary  use  of  the  Hebrew  language  all  such  terms  have, 
besides  their  literal  meaning,  a  figurative  sense.  Whenever 
they  are  used  of  God,  therefore,  they  must  be  taken  in  the 
latter  significance;  that  is,  as  figures  of  speech. 

In  a  concluding  paragraph  Saadia  describes,  in  a  highly 
poetical  manner  and  with  deep  religious  emotion,  the  state 
of  happiness  and  peace  of  mind  that  falls  to  the  lot  of  him 
who  has  attained  to  a  true  conception  of  God,  and  is  per- 
meated by  the  firm  belief  in  His  love  and  benevolence 
toward  mankind.  There  is  a  rhythm  in  the  evenly-balanced 
sentences  of  this  paragraph,  and  a  religious  fervor  that 
cannot  fail  to  impress  even  the  modern  reader,  despite  his 
widely  divergent  mode  of  thought. 

(HI)  The  investigation,  so  far,  has  brought  to  light  the 
facts  that  the  world  was  created  and  that  its  Creator  is 
indivisible,  unique,  incorporeal.  The  question  which  now 
forces  itself  upon  our  mind  is  the  purpose  of  the  Creator  in 
forming  His  world.  To  the  solution  of  this  question 
Saadia  accordingly  devotes  the  third  chapter  of  his  work, 
bearing  the  title  "  Command  and  Prohibition."  Unhesitat- 
ingly he  declares  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  discussion  that 
creation  was  an  act  of  grace  on  the  part  of  the  Creator,  who 
desired  to  make  His  creatures  happy.  To  assure  their  happi- 
ness He  gave  them  a  code  of  laws,  injunctions  and  prohibi- 
tions, by  obedience  to  which  they  would  realize  His  purpose, 
that  is,  to  be  happy.  Here  we  are  confronted  with  the  3iffiA 
culty,  that  God  could  have  granted  happiness  without  impos-  ' 


2o8  SAADIA  GAON 

ing  the  burden  of  the  law  upon  mankind.  To  this  objection 
Saadia  replies  that  nothing  whatsoever  will  give  man  perfect 
happiness  unless  he  feels  that  he  has  a  right  to  what  he  pos- 
sesses, that  somehow  or  other  he  has  personally  merited  it. 
Wherever  this  consciousness  is  lacking,  he  will  not  enjoy 
happiness  completely.  To  enable  us  to  be  perfectly  happy 
with  the  material  and  spiritual  blessings  God  intended  fer 
us,  He  enjoined  upon  us  numerous  laws  and  ordinances,  the 
observance  of  which  requires  great  sacrifice  and  much  self- 
restraint  on  our  part,  thus  giving  us  a  chance  to  acquire, 
through  our  own  efforts,  the  ultimate  state  of  perfect  happi-, 
ness  in  store  for  us. 

These  introductory  remarks  on  the  purpose  of  the  divine 
law  lead  the  author  to  a  general  characterization  of  the  latter 
and  its  educational  value  for  humanity.  He  divides  the  Bib- 
lical laws  into  two  main  classes,  those  dictated  by  human 
reason  ( akliyyat=  DV^DtJ^),  and  those  which  have  their 
origin  in  divine  revelation  (sam'iyyat=  TWV^^  ) — a  distinc- 
tion adopted  by  Saadia  from  Muhammedan  literature  and 
later  accepted  by  Jewish  mediaeval  philosophers.*"  Saadia 
endeavors  to  prove  that  even  the  laws  based  on  revelation, 
though  we  cannot  always  recognize  their  raison  d'etre,  are 
by  no  means  irrational,  and  have,  besides,  a  moral  discip- 
linary value,  inasmuch  as  they  train  us  in  submission  to  a 
higher  will. 

In  connection  with  the  idea  of  revelation  Saadia  discusses 
the  subject  of  prophecy,  its  credibility,  and  its  necessity  for 
the  people ;  divides  the  essential  content  of  Scriptures  into 
three  branches,  the  narrative,  the  legal,  and  the  prophetic ; 
and  tries  to  prove  their  historical  trustworthiness  from  the 

*"  Maimonides  {Eight  Chapters,  ch.  6),  however,  strongly  opposed 
this  classification  of  the  law,  which  is  to  be  found  also  in  Saadia's 
Introduction  to  the  Commentary  on  Proverbs ;  comp.  Steinschneider, 
CB.,  2165;  see  for  the  literature  on  the  subject  the  references  given 
by  Joseph  I.  Gorfinkle,  in  his  scholarly  study  The  Eight  Chapters  of 
Maimonides  on  Ethics,  New  York,  1912,  p.  yy,  n.  3 ;  comp.  also 
Steinschneider,  HB.,  X,  173 ;  Goldziher,  Kitah  ma  dm  al-nafs,  Berlin, 
1907,  pp.  22  ff.;  Guttmann,  Saadia,  p.  135,  n.  2;  Festschrift  of  Isr. 
Lewy,  p.  315,  n.  6  {Moses  hen  Maimon,  II,  206,  n.  3). 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  209 

viewpoint  of  reason.  The  object  of  the  lengthy  discussion 
was  in  all  probability  the  refutation  of  the  doctrine  of  a 
Hindu  sect,  who  denied  the  need  of  prophecy,  and  whom 
Saadia  mentions  further  on  in  the  same  chapter  under  the 
name  of  Barahima  (Brahmans) — by  the  way,  the  only  sect 
mentioned  by  name  in  his  work. 

The  defense  of  the  Bible  as  a  rehable  historical  record  sug- 
gested another  important  problem  for  immediate  treatment, 
the  question  whether  the  Biblical  dispensation  was  given  for 
all  time,  or  was  to  be  abrogated  at  some  subsequent  period 
and  replaced  by  another  dispensation.  The  matter  was  much 
in  dispute  among  Jews,  Christians,  and  Muhammedans 
alike.*""  The  adherents  of  Christianity  and  Islam  maintained, 
on  the  basis  of  numerous  passages  in  the  Bible  as  well  as 
general  reasons,  that  the  original  law  was,  from  the  very 
first,  intended  only  for  a  limited  time,  and  was  to  be  replaced 
by  their  respective  systems  of  religion.  Saadia  refutes  their 
arguments.  He  shows  that  they  have  misinterpreted  the 
Biblical  passages  adduced  by  them.  One  of  these  refuted 
arguments  may  here  be  briefly  reproduced.  There  is  no 
cogent  reason,  the  opponents  say,  why  we  should  be  bound 
to  believe  in  Moses  because  of  the  miracles  he  performed 
more  than  in  other  prophets  (Jesus  and  Muhammed, 
respectively)  who  performed  similar  miracles.  Saadia  de- 
clares that  when  he  first  heard  this  argument,  he  was  greatly 
surprised,  for  our  belief  in  the  prophecy  of  Moses  is  not  due 
merely  to  his  performance  of  miracles.  It  is  based  on  the 
intrinsic  ethical  value  of  the  message  he  carried.""^  For 
that  matter  we  believe  in  any  prophet  who  brings  us  a  simi- 
larly acceptable  message.  The  miracles  are  but  a  secon- 
dary matter.  If  a  miracle-worker,  claiming  prophetic  in- 
spiration, asks  us  to  accept  what  our  reason  considers  posi- 

**°For  the  literature  see  Steinschneider,  Polemische  und  apolo- 
getische  Literatur,  pp.  322  f . 

*^  This  view  is  actually  taken  up  again  by  the  most  recent  Jewish 
scholars  on  the  subject;  see  for  instance  Max  Wiener,  Zur  Geschichte 
des  Offenbarungsbe griffs,  in  the  Hermann  Cohen-Festschrift  {Juda- 
ica),  pp.  12,  16,  18. 

14 


210  SAADIA  GAON 

lively  wrong  (such  as  the  Christian  dogmas  of  the  Trinity, 
Incarnation,  etc.),  we  refuse  to  heed  his  miracles.  No 
miracle  can  evidence  the  truth  of  that  which  is  inherently 
untrue.  Saadia  illustrates  the  point  by  the  example  of  two 
different  sorts  of  claims  laid  before  a  court  by  a  litigant. 
If  one  should  sue  a  man  for  the  sum  of  thousands  of 
denarii,  the  court  will  hear  the  witnesses  summoned  to  testify 
to  the  rightness  of  his  claim,  but  if  his  contention  be  that 
the  defendant  owes  him  the  Tigris,  the  court  will  at  once 
dismiss  the  case  as  nonsensical,  without  the  hearing  of  any 
testimony. 

In  the  last  portion  of  this  chapter  Saadia  defends  the 
authority  of  the  Bible  against  the  attacks  made  upon  it  by 
the  Jewish  heretic  Hiwi  of  Balkh,  who,  however,  is  not 
mentioned  by  name  in  this  connection.  Of  the  many  objec- 
tions of  Hiwi  to  the  Bible,  said  to  have  numbered  two  hun- 
dred, Saadia  selects  twelve  for  refutation.**''     In  all  proba- 

**^  One  of  the  twelve  points  refuted  by  Saadia  (the  fourth,  Am., 
p.  141 ;  E^n.,  p.  72)  deserves  special  notice  here.  The  opponent  is 
quoted  as  objecting  to  the  Biblical  institution  of  sacrifices  on  the 
ground  that  sacrifices  are  the  cause  of  great  cruelty  to  animals. 
Saadia  replies :  "  God  has  decreed  death  upon  all  living  beings.  In 
the  case  of  man  death  comes  naturall}^  at  the  expiration  of  the 
time-limit  God  sets  to  his  existence.  But  in  the  case  of  animals  any 
moment  when  they  are  taken  to  be  killed  is  the  time-limit  set  to 
their  existence.  With  them  the  killing  takes  the  place  of  natural 
death.  Should  it  be  true  that  killing  causes  more  suffering  to  the 
animal  than  a  natural  death,  then  God  certainly  knows  it.  Justice 
would  require  that  He  reward  the  animal  after  death  in  proportion 
to  the  additional  suffering  inflicted  upon  it.  We  accept  this  view — 
provided  the  additional  suffering  is  made  plausible — because  reason 
demands  it,  not  because  it  is  prescribed  by  the  revealed  law."  This 
strange  theory  of  a  reward  to  animals  in  the  hereafter,  adopted  by 
Saadia  from  the  Mu'tazilites,  is  not  in  keeping  with  rabbinical  teach- 
ings (comp.  n^D  n3D»,  ed.  Coronel,  ch.  2,  p.  4:  nD"'n{i^^  HOni 
n''n^y^   P^n   n^   pXI   ni^^V,  ■a.nd  KoheUt  rabha,  z,  18:  HDHnn  HD 

'13^  u^v^^r\  13   n''niy^  p^n  n^   p^^i  nnnn  n:nj;   comp. 

Jellinek,  '^"'0T\1,  I,  151,  bottom)  and  is  another  instance  of 
Saadia's  disagreement  with  some  Talmudic  traditions  (see  above, 
note  462,  and  especially  below,  note  518).  The  theory  was 
accepted    also    by    some    other    Geonim     (comp.   D'^JIX^H    nnit^n, 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  211 

bility  the  whole  paragraph  is  reproduced  by  Saadia  from  his 
polemical  work  against  this  heretic  (quoted  above,  p.  198) 
under  the  title  "  Refutation  of  Hiwi  of  Balkh,"  which  will 
be  considered  under  Polemics. 

(IV)  Human  happiness — so  Saadia  had  sought  to  prove — 
was  the  ultimate  purpose  of  God  in  creating  the  world,  and 
the  law  was  shown  to  have  been  handed  down  as  a  means  to 
that  happiness/**  This  doctrine  can  be  accepted  only  on  the 
supposition  that  man  is  perfectly  free  in  his  actions,  so  that 
whatever  he  does,  good  or  evil,  may  be  set  to  the  account  of 
his  own  deliberate  choice.  Otherwise,  i.  e.,  if  man's  actions 
are  predetermined  by  his  physical  nature,  or — what  is  meant 
by  our  author — by  the  higher  will  of  God,  they  would  count 
for  nothing,  and  he  should  receive  neither  reward  nor  punish- 
ment for  his  obedience  or  disobedience  of  the  divine  law. 
We  thus  encounter  the  perplexing  problem  of  free  will, 
that  has  troubled  the  philosophers  of  all  nations  in  bygone 
ages,  and  fills  the  pages  of  many  a  philosophic  work  of  our 
own  day.  To  its  solution  Saadia  devotes  the  main  part  of  his 
fourth  chapter,  which  bears  the  title  "  Obedience  and  Diso- 
bedience." 

As  is  to  be  expected,  his  theory,  for  which  numerous  verses 
of  the  Bible  are  quoted,  is  that  men  are  free  agents  and  there- 
fore fully  responsible  for  their  actions.    But  before  entering 

ed.  Harkavy,  p.  190,  no.  375;  see  also  ib.,  p.  Z1Z),  who  were, 
without  naming,  opposed  by  Maimonides,  Moreh,  III,  17;  comp.  also 
his  Commentary  on  the  Mishnah,  Baba  Kamma,  4,  3,  and  Ibn  Saddik, 
jDP  D^iy,  ed  Horovltz,  pp.  60,  72.  In  particular  the  Karaites,  who 
generally  followed  the  theology  of  the  Mu'tazilites,  favored  this 
view;  see  Munk,  Guide,  III,  128,  n.  4,  whose  assertion  "dans  les 
ecrits  de  Saadia,  nous  n'en  trouvons  aucune  trace  "  is  due  to  over- 
sight of  the  passage  in  Saadia's  'Amarmt  quoted  above ;  comp. 
Kaufmann,  Attrihutenlehre,  p.  503;  Steinschneider,  Polemische  und 
apologetische  Literatur,  pp.  337,  356,  top ;  Hebrdische  Ueberstesungen, 
p.  438,  n.  481 ;  Gutmann  in  Isr.  Lewy's  Festschrift,  pp.  313  ff.  {Mos. 
b.  Maim.,  II,  204)  ;  Malter,  IQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  IX  (1918-1919),  p.  239. 
For  details  regarding  the  other  objections  of  Hiwi  see  Guttmann, 
MGWJ.,  1879,  PP-  260-270,  289-300;  Graetz,  Geschichte  (4),  V,  533- 
535  (end  of  Note  20;  JE.,  VI,  429  f.,  X,  582,  no.  6;  comp.  also  below, 
Bibliography,  section  VI,  pp.  384  ff. 
*^  Comp.  Maimonides,  Guide,  III,  27. 


212  SAADIA  GAON 

Upon  the  subject  proper,  he  raises  the  question  as  to  what  con- 
stitutes the  most  important  part  and  the  real  object  of  crea- 
tion. An  examination  of  nature  reveals  that  the  most  essential 
part  of  any  organic  body  is  placed  in  its  center.  The  kernel, 
which  is  indispensable  for  the  generation  of  the  plant,  is  in 
the  middle  of  the  fruit ;  the  yelk,  in  which  the  chick  develops 
to  life,  is  the  center  of  the  egg ;  the  heart,  as  the  seat  of  vi- 
tahty,  is  likewise  in  the  center  of  the  body.  If,  then,  we 
find  that  the  earth,  too,  is  in  the  center  of  the  universe,  sur- 
rounded bv  the  celestial  spheres,  we  may  safely  conclude 
by  analogy  that  it  ^*  is  the  most  important  part  of  all  creation. 
Now,  if  we  turn  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  we  shall 
certainly  recognize  human  beings  as  the  superiors  of 
all.  Hence  it  is  man  that  is  the  ultimate  aim  of  the  whole 
cosmic  plan.  This  view  is  fully  in  keeping  with  the  fact  that 
God  created  man  last,  "  just  as  the  architect,  who  erects  a 
palace,  furnishes  it,  puts  everything  in  order,  and  then  in- 
vites the  owner  to  its  occupation."  ^^ 

***  Landauer,  who  usually  follows  the  Oxford  recension  of  the 
Arabic  text,  here  {'Amdnat,  p.  146,  1.  11)  made  an  exception,  choos- 
ing instead  the  reading  of  the  St.  Petersburg  recension,  followed  also 
by  Ibn  Tibbon  (p.  75:  n^n  X^H  HXnnn  inOH),  according  to 
which  Saadia  intended  to  say  that  "  the  purpose  of  creation  is  on 
earth"  (Arabic:  V"lt?^X  ""D  Tl).  This  reading,  however,  is  wrong, 
as  is  evident  from  the  following  text,  and  the  Arabic  preposition  ""D, 
though  attested  also  by  Ibn  Tibbon,  is  probably  a  corrupt  repetition 
of  the  immediately  preceding  Tl. 

^^  Am.,  p.  146,  1.  16  {Em.  p.  75),  based  on  a  passage  in  b.  Synhedrin, 
38a.  The  view  here  proposed  by  Saadia,  that  man  is  the  final  purpose 
of  creation,  hence  superior  to  all  celestial  hosts,  the  angels  and  stars, 
which  are  created  for  man's  service  only,  found  many  opponents  in 
the  ranks  of  mediaeval  Jewish  authors.  The  subject  is  too  large  to 
be  treated  in  a  note.  A  few  references  will  lead  to  the  literature  in 
question.  Among  the  distinguished  authors  who  disagreed  with  the 
Gaon  in  this  matter  are  Hananel  of  Kairwan  (1050)  (see  Rapoport, 
Bikkure  ha-Ittim,  XII,  24,  end  of  note  15)  ;  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra 
(Commentary  on  Genesis,  1,  2;  Short  Commentary  on  Exodus, 
23,  20),  who  is  extremely  severe  against  the  Gaon  on  this  point 
(comp.  Reggio  and  Luzzatto,  Kerem  Chemed,  IV,  104-108,  136  f.; 
Mortara,  Orrar  Nechmad,  II,  209;  M.  Friedlaender,  Essays  on  the 
Writings  of  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,  p.  115,  n.  i)  ;  Maimonides  {Guide, 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  213 

Here  we  must  ask  ourselves :  Wherein  consists  man's  par- 
ticular importance,  that  he  should  be  thus  distinguished  and 
recognized  as  the  crown  of  all  creation  ?  In  nothing  else,  we 
reply,  than  in  his  being  endowed  with  reason,  with  that 
divine  soul  which,  in  the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  makes  him 
but  "  a  little  less  than  God  himself."  At  this  point  Saadia 
waxes  enthusiastic  in  depicting  the  excellence  of  human 
reason  and  the  great  things  man  is  able  to  accomplish 
through  his  reason.  "  With  his  reason  man  embraces  the 
past  and  the  future ;  by  it  he  subdues  the  animals,  that  they 
till  the  ground  and  carry  in  its  produce ;  by  it  he  is  able  to 
draw  the  water  out  of  the  depth  of  the  earth  to  its  surface, 
nay,  by  it  he  even  invents  hydraulic  implements  that  pump 
the  water  automatically ;  by  it  he  builds  lofty  palaces,  makes 
magnificent   garments,  and  prepares   dainty   dishes;  by   it 

III,  13;  Munk,  pp.  95  f.),  and  his  numerous  followers  down  to  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  e.  g.  Jedaiah  Bedersi  (D^iy  fUTIl 
chapter  12;  comp.  Schorr,  Kerem  Chemed,  VIII,  204),  and  his 
commentator  Moses  Ibn  Habib  (about  1500),  who  in  his  commentary 
on  the  latter  work  (Ferrara,  1552),  6ia,  speaks  with  little  respect  of 
the  Gaon  and  expresses  his  great  satisfaction  with  Ibn  Ezra's 
thorough  refutation  of  his  theory    (^D  T\V\  XIH  HTD    nJi:iO  inVI 

nnvD  ijni  ntyn  n^^:)  D^rix^^n  id  inijj  nnr  dinh  ^3  ntyinty 
nvt?i  «^nntj^  i^n^  'nn  id^qh  n^nnn  niyim  mJiDj^n  nsDi 
inyi  iDD  nnDi  Dnt^n  j^in  D^^nnjn  ^^n  i^^'^i^r]  •'D  nnin^  nt  ^y 
n^i^T  DiJ^ian  n^n«  rnvxi  ^3  ^^ani  nmnn  t^^nsn  y"nxnn 

Ibn  Habib,  it  may  be  noted  in  passing,  shows  very  little 
appreciation  of  the  whole  book  Emunot;  see  his  remark  at  the  end 
of  the  commentary,  122& :    jD   HJIDXl  inino   1QD   IJ^^X  y^^H  X^ 

^:d  nn«  p^ddd  ijj^t^i  nnyo  im^  mjioxn  nsD  n^n  Q^j^x:n 

nilDH  nnn  n  ^^D^  no^  ^I^N*.  while  Maimonides's  Guide,  as  a 
philosophic  work,  is,  no  doubt,  superior  to  Saadia's  Emunot,  Habib's 
statement  nevertheless  contains  a  gross  exaggeration ;  comp.  also 
below,  note  607.  Saadia's  view  is  in  keeping  with  that  prevailing  in 
traditional  literature  (see  e.  g.  b.  Berakot,  S2b ;  Hullin,  gib,  bottom), 
hence  it  was  upheld  by  the  more  orthodox  mediaeval  Jewish  authors, 
am.ong  them  Bahya  b.  Asher  (comp.  Bernstein,  MWJ.,  XVIII,  172, 
n.32).  For  further  material  see  GeigerTl^nn,  II,  20;  Luzzatto,  i33"lD 
\>T\^\  V,  33;  D.  Kohn  (Kahana),  y''n^?^^  nn^lD,  pp.  51,  86; 
Halberstam,  in  his  notes  on  "'''D2  of  Judali  b.  Barzillai,  p.  307; 
Schmiedl,  Studien,  pp.  83-85 ;  comp.  also  below,  note  508. 


214  SAADIA  GAON 

he  leads  armies,  equips  military  camps,  and  manages  the 
affairs  of  state,  so  that  men  become  civilized  and  orderly; 
by  it  he  learns  the  nature  of  the  celestial  spheres,  the  course 
of  the  planets,  the  size  of  their  bodies,  their  distances  from 
one  another,  as  well  as  other  astronomical  matters." 

"  In  view  of  all  this  it  is  only  natural  that  man  should  have 
been  commissioned  with  carrying  out  God's  law,  be  rewarded 
for  its  keeping  and  punished  for  its  transgression,  for  he  is 
the  axis  of  the  world  and  its  foundation  {kiith  al-alami 
wa-kaida-tuhu,  Ibn  Tibbon :  in:iD?D1  D^iyn  ntDp)." 

"  This  belief  of  ours  in  man's  superiority  is  not  merely      j 
an  imagination,  or  the  result  of  our  desire  to  exaggerate  our      / 
importance,  nor  is  it  out  of  boastfulness  or  arrogance  that     / 
we  make  such  claims,  but  it  is  positively  true  and  perfectly 
legitimate.    Why,  then,  should  God  have  equipped  man  with 
that  supreme  power  of  reason  that  makes  him  the  master 
of  all  creation  ?    For  no  other  purpose  than  to  make  him  the 
beneficiary  of  the  law  (through  which,  as  explained  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  he  is  to  attain  to  happiness),  as  it  is  said 
in  Scripture  (Job,  28,  28)  :   And  He  said  unto  man,  Behold, 
that   thou   mayest   fear   the   Lord,   was   wisdom  bestowed 
upon  thee,  and  understanding,  that  thou  mayest  depart  from 
evil."  *" 

Following  these  introductory  remarks  Saadia  tries  to 
meet  eight  ^^  objections  that  might  be  raised  against  his 
views.  One  might  ask,  for  instance,  how  is  it  possible,  con- 
sidering his  physical  smallness  and  insignificance,  to  assume 
that  man  is  the  purpose  of  creation?  The  answer  is,  that 
"  though  his  body  be  small,  his  soul  is  larger  than  heaven 
and  earth,  for  through  it  he  reaches  even  what  is  above  them 
and  the  cause  of  them,  the  Creator  Himself."  The  short 
duration  of  man's  life  on  earth  is  contrasted  with  his  eternal 

^^'Amdnat,  p.  147  (76).  All  this  is  ridiculed  by  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra, 
in  the  passages  referred  to  in  the  preceding  note.  For  Saadia's  inter- 
pretation of  the  verse  here  quoted  comp.  above,  note  418. 

^^  Saadia  says  sevcyv  {Am.,  p.  150,  1.  14;  Em.,  p.  Jj) ,  but  actually 
counts  eight.  Similar  mistakes  in  counting  happen  to  him  several 
times  in  this  book ;  comp.  notes  526,  528. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  215 

life  hereafter,  the  latter  being  a  compensation  for  the  for- 
mer. The  frailty  of  the  human  body,  its  composition  of  the 
four  humors  and  consequent  impurity,  are  declared  to  be 
the  necessary  result  of  man's  being  part  of  this  earthly 
world  of  the  four  elements.  To  demand  that  man  be  other- 
wise, that  is,  simple  and  eternal,  is  tantamount  to  asking 
that  he  be  made  a  star  or  an  angel,  or  that,  for  example,  the 
earth  should  be  fire,  which  contradicts  all  logic.  Man,  such 
as  he  is  and  should  be,  is  the  finest  organism  possible  on 
earth.  As  to  his  being  subject  to  diseases  and  accident, 
the  author  finds  that  they  are  for  man's  good,  since  they 
make  him  pray  to  God  for  relief  and  teach  him  to  fear 
punishment.  It  is  also  true  that  man's  life  is  often  imperiled 
by  his  passions.  These,  too,  are  necessary  for  his  own 
preservation.  Without  desire  for  food,  sexual  intercourse, 
and  the  like,  he  could  not  exist.  His  task  is  to  control  these 
passions  and  to  use  them  in  a  proper,  permissible  way.  That 
a  human  being  should  at  times  be  put  to  death  for  the  com- 
mission of  crimes  is  likewise  fully  justified.  Reason  de- 
mands that  a  degenerate  individual,  who  endangers  the  life 
of  others,  be  destroyed  for  the  safety  of  the  rest  of  mankind, 
just  as  it  is  sometimes  necessary  to  cut  off  a  diseased  Imib 
in  order  to  save  the  rest  of  the  body. 

Having  thus  demonstrated  God's  justice  and  benevolence 
toward  man,  the  author  feels  prepared  for  the  discussion 
of  the  main  subject,  the  freedom  of  the  will.  It  was  one 
of  God's  benevolent  acts  toward  men,  he  declares,  that  He 
granted  them  freedom  of  will,  by  which  they  can  determine 
for  themselves  the  course  they  are  to  follow,  thus  working 
out  their  own  salvation.  That  we  actually  possess  free  will 
the  author  proves  by  Scriptural  verses  and  lengthy  philo- 
sophic arguments,  which  cannot  here  be  reproduced.  The 
main  difficulty  in  the  way  of  this  assumption  is  its  apparent 
incompatibility  with  the  idea  of  God's  omniscience.  If 
God  knows  in  advance  how  man  is  going  to  act  in  a  certain 
instance,  as  the  idea  of  prescience  requires,  man  is  evi- 
dently bound  to  act  in  accordance  therewith,  else  God's 
prescience  would  be  nullified.     We  are  thus  compelled  to 


2i6  SAADIA  GAON 

sacrifice  either  God's  foreknowledge  or  man's  independence 
of  decision — a  dilemma  which  baffled  the  minds  of  all  the 
philosophers  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Saadia  tries  to  do  away 
with  the  difficulty  by  declaring  that  God's  knowledge  of 
what  will  occur  does  not  necessitate  its  actual  coming  into 
existence.  Man  is  therefore  free  to  do  as  he  pleases.  More- 
over, God's  knowledge  always  extends  to  man's  ultimate 
decision,  whatever  this  may  be,  so  that  there  can  be  no  con- 
tradiction between  the  two.  This  is  about  as  satisfactory 
a  disposition  of  the  question  as  the  hitching  of  two  horses  to  a 
wagon,  each  one  pulling  in  a  different  direction,  and  thus 
neither  one  bringing  the  load  forward.  Later  philoso- 
phers,'^' indeed,  refused  to  accept  this  solution,  but  Saadia 
himself  does  not  seem  to  have  suspected  the  inadequacy  of 
his  arguments. 

The  idea  of  God's  prescience  causes  a  number  of  other 
difficulties.  They  are  taken  up  by  Saadia,  one  by  one,  and 
if  we  accept  the  author's  premises,  they  are  successfully  ex- 
plained. A  closing  paragraph  is  devoted  to  the  interpreta- 
tion of  numerous  Biblical  passages  which  appear  to  empha- 
size the  fact  of  God's  interference  with  man's  will,  depriv- 
ing him  of  the  power  of  self-determination.  Saadia  classi- 
fies the  respective  passages,  to  which,  he  says,  many  more 
can  be  added  from  the  Bible,  under  eight  general  headings, 
and  tries  to  show  that  in  each  case  the  difficulty  arises  only 
through  a  misunderstanding  of  the  true  meaning.  .^ 

(V)   Man  is  a  free  agent,  the  law  was  given  to  him  for\ 
his  benefit,  and  it  is  for  him  to  follow  it.     This  is  the  net  \ 
result  of  the  investigation  so  far.    But  what  if  we  are  over-  | 
come  by  doubts  and  misgivings  as  to  the  value  and  useful-   ' 
ness  of  the  law  for  us?     What  if  a  given  law  contains    , 
nothing  that  appeals  to  our  reason  and  recommends  it  for 
acceptance?     What   if,   as   experience   often   shows,   those    ; 
who  conscientiously  obey  the  law  live  in  poverty  and  dis- 
tress,  while   those  who   disregard   it   are   prosperous   and 
happy?    These  and  similar  questions  the  author  proposes  to 

***  See  Guttmann,  Saadia,  p.  170,  n.  i. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  217 

treat  in  the  fifth  chapter,  called  "  Merits  and  Demerits." 
As  usual  he  opens  the  discussion  by  quoting  verses  from  the 
Bible,  which,  in  his  opinion,  enHghten  us  on  the  subject. 
"  Repeated  acts  of  obedience  to  the  law  are  designated  in 
the  Bible  as  merits,  while  acts  of  disobedience  are  called 
demerits,  and  both,  we  are  told,  are  put  to  man's  credit  or 
discredit.  We  are  further  informed  that  the  deeds  of  a  man 
leave  an  impress  on  his  soul,  either  ennobling  or  debasing 
it,  and  although  this  escapes  the  knowledge  of  men  it  is 
patent  to  God."  *^  These  sentences,  based  on  Scriptural 
verses,  are  the  key  to  the  solution  of  all  the  questions  raised. 
In  a  lengthy  paragraph  the  author  proceeds  to  show  the 
correctness  of  the  Biblical  ideas  from  the  point  of  view  of 
reason.  We  should  not  always  be  ready  to  deny  the  impor- 
tance of  a  thing  merely  because  we  are  ignorant  of  its  use- 
fulness. There  are  hundreds  of  things  even  in  the  material 
world  the  value  of  which  is  not  known  to  the  majority  of 
us,  but  only  to  a  few  experts.  It  is  only  the  numismatist  who 
can  distinguish  between  valuable  and  worthless  coins,  the 
physician  who  understands  how  to  diagnosticate  the  nature 
of  a  disease,  and  the  jeweller  who  can  tell  the  difference 
between  the  various  kinds  of  precious  stones.  The  same 
applies  to  every  art  and  science.  Inaccessible  to  the  multi- 
tude, they  are  known  to  the  few  initiated  in  the  secrets. 
If  this  be  the  case  with  things  material,  how  much  truer 
must  it  be  when  we  deal  with  things  spiritual.  The  soul 
is  admittedly  the  most  spiritual  entity  under  human  obser- 
vation. What  wonder  that  we  have  no  knowledge  as  to  the 
effect  certain  practices  and  customs  of  ours  may  have  on  it. 
We  cannot  tell  the  influence  on  our  soul  or  character  that 
is  exercised  by  the  observance  of  ceremonies,  the  dietary 
laws,  and  the  like.  We  must  assume  that  God,  the  Creator 
of  our  soul,  knows  the  benefits  that  accrue  to  it  from  law- 
ful acts  and  the  harm  that  it  suffers  if  we  go  counter  to 
His  ordinances.  It  is  therefore  best  for  us  to  carry  out  God's 
commands  to  the  letter.     The  reward  is  certain  to  follow. 

*^"Amdndt,  p.  165  (84),  beginning  of  the  chapter. 


2i8  SAADIA  GAON 

The  general  ideas  of  merit  and  demerit  having  thus  been 
made  clear,  the  author  divides  all  men  into  ten  classes,  ac- 
cording to  the  degree  in  which  these  two  aspects  of  human 
life  manifest  themselves  in  their  religious  conduct.  The 
division  seems  to  be,  in  part,  rather  arbitrary  and  due  to  the 
author's  fondness  for  numbers,  though  he  founds  it  on 
Talmudic  passages.  The  first  two  classes  are  pious  and  im- 
pious men.  In  order  to  be  recognized  as  pious,  it  is  not  neces- 
sary that  man  should  have  only  merits  to  his  account.  It  is 
sufficient  that  his  meritorious  deeds  or  good  qualities  should 
preponderate  over  his  bad  ones.  Such  a  man  is  designated 
in  Scripture  as  pious,  as  we  call  a  man  healthy  if  he  is  in  a 
generally  good  physical  condition,  though  his  health  may  not 
be  absolutely  perfect.  The  same  holds  good  also  with 
regard  to  the  impious  person.  He  may  possess  a  number  of 
commendable  qualities,  but  he  is  to  be  judged  according  to 
the  evil  traits  dominant  in  his  character.  The  status  of  men 
in  the  world  to  come  depends  upon  the  major  number  of  their 
actions.  For  the  minority,  good  or  bad,  men  are  rewarded  or 
punished  in  this  world."^^'' 

With  these  statements,  derived  from  the  Talmud,  Saadia 
prepares  for  the  answer  to  the  important  question,  formu- 
lated above,  why  the  righteous  are  so  often  subject  to  suffer- 
ing and  affliction,  while  the  wicked  enjoy  well-being  and 
happiness — a  question  repeated  again  and  again  in  the 
Bible"**  and  the  puzzle  of  the  theologians  of  all  creeds. 
Men  being  judged  according  to  the  nature  of  the  majority 
of  their  deeds,  Saadia  says,  the  pious  are  destined  to  eternal 
bliss  in  the  hereafter,  while  the  impious  are  doomed  to  last- 
ing infelicity.  Each  of  the  two  classes,  however,  has  to  be 
rewarded  or  punished  also  for  those  deeds,  good  or  evil, 
which  are  in  the  minority,  and  as  this  is  to  take  place  in  this 
world,  it  results  therefrom  that  the  righteous  suffer  and  the 
wicked  prosper.  It  may  happen,  however,  that  the  righteous 
or  the  wicked  change  their  respective  courses,  or  by  a  cer- 
tain action  invalidate  their  past  records.     In  this  case  their 

**®^  This  is  the  teaching  of  R.  'Akiba,  Bereshit  rahba,  ch.  33,  i. 
*""  Thus  Jeremiah,  12,  i ;  comp.  h.  Berakot,  ya. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  219 

status  in  this  world  has  to  be  reversed.  As  most  of  the 
actions  of  our  fellow-men  and  their  inner  motives  are  beyond 
our  control,  we  can  never  account  for  their  standing  in  life, 
and  are  therefore  often  inclined  to  doubt  the  justice  of  the 
distribution  of  worldly  blessings.  It  also  happens  that  the 
righteous  are  afflicted  merely  because  God  knows  that  they 
will  stand  the  test  and  remain  faithful  and  submissive,  as  was 
exemplified  by  Job.  This  is  of  great  educational  value  for 
others.  The  firmness  and  steadfastness  of  the  righteous 
man  serve  them  as  a  model  in  similar  situations ;  while  he 
who  has  thus  been  tried  is  compensated  in  the  future  world 
for  his  undeserved  sufterings.  The  sufferings  of  innocent 
children,  too,  can  only  be  explained  by  assuming  that  they 
are  to  be  rewarded  therefor  in  the  world  to  come.*'*"'^ 

For  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked  there  are  additional 
reasons,  of  which  Saadia  suggests  six ;  among  them,  that 
transgressors  are  sometimes  spared  because  they  are  to  be 
used  as  instruments  for  the  punishment  of  others,  or  because 
they  are  sure  to  repent  and  reform  at  some  future  time,  as 
in  the  instances  of  king  Manasseh  and  others. 

Saadia  now  turns  to  the  other  eight  classes  of  men,  which 
he  briefly  characterizes  in  accordance  with  Talmudic  pas- 
sages. To  these  he  adds  a  special  class,  consisting  of  men 
whose  good  and  evil  deeds  balance  each  other.  In  connection 
with  the  tenth  class,  that  of  penitents,  he  gives  a  definition  of 
true  repentance,  points  out  seven  instances  in  which  prayer 
for  forgiveness  is  not  accepted,""^  three  kinds  of  sins  which 

4!)oa  -pj^js  question  of  the  suffering  of  children  has  been  touched 
upon  also  by  Plato  {Republic,  X,  615).  Saadia  reverts  to  it  twice 
in  the  following;  see  below,  notes  511a,  525a. 

*®^  The  source  of  this  enumeration  is  probably  a  Baraita  in  the 
tractate  Y^^  Til  in  the  recension  of  the  nD^I  TlTno,  p.  725,  where, 
however,  not  seven,  but  ten,  mostly  different  instances  are  enumer- 
ated. Saadia  must  have  had  a  different  recension  of  the  Baraita.  He 
in  turn  was  the  source  of  Judah  he-Hasid,  D^T"'Dn  IQD,  §  612  (ed. 
Berlin,  §  36)  and  of  Eleazar  of  Worms  (llpl,  §  28,  repeated  in 
§  216;  comp.  also  §  29),  who  added  two  points  to  the  seven  of  Saadia ; 
comp.  Friedmann,  NtDIT  in''^«  "ITD^  D^PIDDJ,  Vienna,  1904,  p.  9,  who 
overlooked  Saadia  as  the  source  of  Judah  and  Eleazar.  Both  Judah 
and  Eleazar  follow  the  text  of  the  Paraphrase  as  against  that  of 


220  SAADIA  GAON 

cannot  be  forgiven  although  the  sinner  has  repented  (seduc- 
ing others  to  iniquity,  calumniating,  and  robbing  without 
readiness  to  restore  the  goods),*"'  four  sins  for  which  punish- 
ment is  meted  out  in  this  world  (false  oath,  murder,  adultery, 
and  bearing  false  witness),  and  finally  three  virtues,  which 
are  recompensed  in  this  life.  These  are :  honoring  father  and 
mother,  compassion  with  animals,  and  perfect  honesty  in 
one's  dealings.  All  these  statements  are  supported  by  verses 
from  the  Bible.*'' 

A  paragraph  is  devoted  to  the  description  of  the  relative 
value  of  the  moral  or  immoral  conduct  of  an  individual 
under  given  circumstances.  For  instance,  the  virtue  of 
temperance  is  to  be  more  appreciated  in  a  young  person 
than  in  the  old,  while  licentiousness  is  more  contemptible 
when  found  among  the  latter;  giving  aid  to  an  enemy  is 
one  of  the  higher  virtues,  and  injuring  a  friend  reveals 
special  viciousness ;  modesty  on  the  part  of  a  great  man  is 
particularly  praiseworthy,  while  the  pride  of  the  plebeian  is 
particularly  detestable ;  cheating  the  poor,  or  the  learned  or 
other  public  benefactors  is  objectionable  to  a  high  degree ; 
robbing  a  multitude  of  people  is  an  aggravated  crime  (exact- 
ing a  thousand  denarii  from  a  thousand  men  is  worse  than 
exacting  the  same  sum  from  half  the  number),  while  on  the 
other  hand  charitableness  and  uprightness  on  the  part  of  the 
poor  are  of  special  credit  to  them.  Here  again  each  state- 
ment is  proved  by  a  Biblical  verse. 

The  last  portion  of  this  chapter  speaks  of  sins  in  thought 
and  sins  committed  out  of  ignorance,  thoughtlessness,  or 
under  the  stress  of  circumstances.     Evil  thoughts  are  not 

Ibn  Tibbon;  comp.  Bibliography,  p.  362,  no.  i.  The  passage 
was  made  use  of  also  by  the  moralist  Judah  Halaz  of  Tlemgen, 
Algeria  (1490),  in  his  "IDIDil  TDD  (Mantua,  1560),  fol.  30a,  without 
mentioning  the  source;  see  note  493;  Bibliography,  p.  368,  top. 

**^  Comp.  Baba  Kamma,  g^b ;  the  passage  was  made  use  of  by 
Abraham  b.  Hiyya,  ti^DJn  IViH,  Leipzig,  i960,  pp.  28,  32. 

*®'  Saadia  adds  here  a  description  of  five  classes  of  penitents,  one 
higher  than  the  other.  This  is  again  given  anonymously  by  Judah 
Halaz  (see  note  491)  fol.  igb,  who  adds  a  sixth  class. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  221 

punishable,  except  those  denying  the  existence  of  God ;  for 
beHef  and  unbeHef  depend  entirely  upon  one's  thoughts.*'* 
Among  evil  thoughts  Saadia  counts  the  misinterpretation  of 
Scriptures  that  leads  to  false  conceptions  of  God,  and  the 
like.*"  A  judge  who  misconstrues  the  law  and  punishes  the 
people  to  serve  his  own  purposes  *^'  "  is  destroying  his  own 
life."  Ignorance  of  the  law  is  no  excuse  for  unlawful  actions, 
nor  is  drunkenness.  The  sufferings  of  those  who  are  afflicted 
with  illness,  or  of  IsraeHtes  who  are  oppressed  by  their 
enemies,  do  not  justify  them  in  uttering  complaints  against 
God;  they  ought  to  endure  and  hope  for  God's  mercy. 
All  this  is  borne  out  by  verses  from  Scripture  and 
partly  also  by  passages  from  the  Talmud.  Saadia  concludes 
with  the  remark  that  it  would  lead  him  too  far  to  gather 
all  the  material  pertaining  to  the  subject,  but  that  he  has 
selected  the  most  obvious  points,  which,  he  hopes,  will  prove 
beneficial  in  stirring  up  the  people  to  their  religious  duties. 
(VI)  The  entire  system  of  Saadia's  philosophy,  as  pre- 
sented in  the  preceding  chapters,  has  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  as  its  necessary  postulate.  The  misery  and  wretchedness 
prevailing  in  the  world,  the  brevity  and  uncertainty  of  our 
lives,  the  injustice  and  iniquity  so  overwhelmingly  present  in 
all  human  affairs — all  this  is  out  of  harmony  with  the  pro- 
posed view  that  man  is  the  culminating  point  of  creation  and 
points  unmistakably  to  the  existence  of  another  world,  where 
all  evil  is  turned  into  good,  and  all  wrong  made  right.  The 
inhabitants  of  that  world  are  the  departed  immortal  souls. 
It  thus  becomes  a  matter  of  prime  importance  to  probe  into 
the  nature  of  the  human  soul  and  define  its  essence.  Inci- 
dentally the  phenomenon  of  death  is  to  be  discussed,  and  a 
few  suggestions  made  regarding  the  mysteries  of  the  future 

"*  Comp.  Maimonides,  Eight  Chapters,  II ;  D^IDV  nnSl,  II,  z,  6  ; 
Maker,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  I  (1910-1911),  p.  485,  n.  90,  where  additional 
references  will  be  found. 

*^'  This  is  probably  an  allusion  to  the  biblical  critic  Hiwi  al-Balhi, 
see  below,  pp.  267  f . 

*^  Here  no  doubt  the  Exilarch  David  b.  Zakkai  is  alluded  to ;  comp. 
above,  note  262. 


222  SAADIA  GAON 

life.     The  sixth  chapter  is  accordingly  entitled   "  On  the 
Essence  of  the  Soul,  on  Death,  and  What  follows  it.""^ 

At  the  outset  Saadia  briefly  announces  his  theory :  God 
creates  the  soul,  which  takes  its  seat  in  the  heart  at  the 
moment  the  body  is  completed.  He  sets  a  time-limit  to  the 
combined  existence  of  body  and  soul,  at  the  expiration  of 
which  they  have  to  part,  and  when  the  number  of  souls  God 
has  seen  fit  to  create  is  completed,  body  and  soul  will  be 
resurrected  to  renewed  and  combined  life.  This  is  testified  to 
by  Scripture,  proved  by  the  prophets,  and  accepted  by  all 
Israel.  It  remains  now  to  prove  the  truth  of  the  Biblical 
doctrine  by  way  of  speculation.  The  first  thing  to  be  investi- 
gated is  the  essence  of  the  soul.  Saadia  remarks  that  the 
subject  is  much  disputed  and  that  he  refrains  from  quoting 
all  the  theories,  but  will  select  seven,  the  last  of  which  is 
his  own.  What  is  adduced  by  Saadia  as  the  first  theory  is 
a  combination  of  five  different  Greek  doctrines  on  the  soul. 
Saadia  takes  them  as  one  because,  as  he  says,  they  have  all 
the  one  view  in  common,  that  the  soul  is  not  a  substantial 
entity,  but  merely  an  accident  of  the  body,  having  no 
separate  existence.  It  is  natural  that  Saadia  should 
oppose  this  theory  with  all  its  ramifications,  as  it  denies  the 
existence  of  a  soul  altogether.  The  second  and  the  third 
theories,  the  one  asserting  that  the  soul  consists  of  air  and 
the  other  that  it  is  fire,  are  both  opposed  by  Saadia  on  the 
ground,  that  they  deprive  the  soul  of  its  spirituality,  air  and 
fire  being  two  elementary  substances.  The  fourth  theory  is 
more  complicated.  It  assumes  that  the  soul  consists  of  two 
parts,  the  one  rational  and  imperishable,  with  the  heart  as 
its  seat,  and  the  other  irrational,  present  in  the  entire  body 
and  perishing  with  it  (vitality).  This  theory  is  likewise 
rejected,  because  it  destroys  the  unity  of  the  soul.  The  fifth 
theory  holds  that  the  soul  consists  of  two  kinds  of  air,  the 
one  dwelling  permanently  in  the  body,  tlie  other  coming 

■*"  For  details  on  the  contents  of  this  chapter  see  the  monograph  of 
Horovitz,  Die  Psychologie  Saadias,  Breslau,  1898;  comp.  also 
Neumark  Geschichte  dcr  jiidischen  Philosophic,  I,  536-551 ;  Guttmann, 
Saadia,  pp.  194  ff. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  223 

from  without  through  breathing,  mixing  with  the  former 
and  sustaining  it.  This  theory  denies  both  the  spirituaHty 
and  the  unity  of  the  soul,  and  is  therefore  to  be  rejected. 
The  sixth  theory  identifies  the  soul  with  the  blood.  While, 
as  usual,  no  authority  is  mentioned  for  any  of  the  preceding 
theories,  an  exception  is  made  by  our  author  in  favor  of  the 
sixth.  He  ascribes  it  to  Anan,  the  founder  of  Karaism, 
who,  Saadia  says,  was  misled  by  a  too  literal  interpretation 
of  a  scriptural  verse,  "the  blood  is  the  soul"  (Deuteron- 
omy, 12,  23).''^  Saadia  is  wrong,  however,  in  stating  that 
Anan  is  the  only  advocate  of  this  theory.  It  was  common 
among  various  ancient  peoples  and  is  mentioned  by  Aris- 
totle *''  and  also  in  the  Midrash.'""  All  the  Greek  theories 
mentioned  by  Saadia  anonymously  have  been  variously  as- 
signed to  their  respective  authors ;  and  the  subject  has  been 
fully  treated  elsewhere.''" 

Having  refuted  the  foregoing  doctrines  on  the  essence  of 
the  soul,  Saadia  turns  to  the  presentation  of  his  own  view. 
By  way  of  introduction  he  observes  that  the  investigation 
of  this  subject  is  extremely  difficult,  and  compares  in  this 
regard  with  the  question  of  creatio  ex  nihilo  and  of  the 
nature  of  the  Creator,  which  accounts  for  the  fact  that  so 
many  conflicting  theories  have  been  advanced  on  the  subject. 

""^Landauer  (p.  191)  and  some  of  the  Hebrew  editions  give  here 
the  wrong  verse,  Leviticus,  17,  iib.  They  were  misled  by  Saadia's 
referring  a  little  further  to  Leviticus,  17,  iia  as  "preceding"  the 
verse  quoted  before.  But  the  word  in  question  (DlIP)  does  not 
mean  preceding  immediately.  Speaking  of  a  verse  in  Deuteronomy 
he  refers  to  a  verse  in  Leviticus  as  preceding  it. 

"*  Aristotle,  De  Anima,  I,  i;  comp.  Horovitz,  Psychologie  Saadias, 
p.  21,  n.  36;  Dukes,  Philosophisches  aus  dcm  sehntcn  Jahrhun- 
dert,  p.  58 ;  Harkavy,  Jahrbuch  fur  jiidische  Geschichte  und  Literatur, 
1899,  p.  119.  The  theory  is  mentioned  also  by  Seneca,  Questiones 
Naturales,  VII,  24;  comp.  Adolfo  Bonilla,  Hist,  de  la  Hlosoiia  Es- 
panola,  Madrid,  1908,  I,  130. 

^'"^  B  ere  shit  rabbah,  c.  14,  §  9;  comp.  Theodor  ad  locum,  p.  133; 
Ginzberg,  Die  Sage  bet  den  Kircheni/dtern,  p.  22. 

''^'See  Maker,  in  the  Hebrew  monthly  H^ti^n,  XXVI  (1912),  pp. 
128-137. 


224  SAADIA  GAON 

This  remark  serves  him  as  a  basis  for  the  interpretation  of  the 
verse  (Eccles.  3,  21),  "Who  knoweth  the  spirit  of  men, 
whether  it  goeth  upward,  and  the  spirit  of  the  beast,  whether 
it  goeth  downward  to  the  earth  "  ?  which  seems  to  doubt 
the  immortaHty  of  the  soul.  The  problem  being  so  diffi- 
cult, the  verse  referred  to  means  only  to  express  admiration 
for  him  who  succeeds  in  solving  it.  Saadia  is  very  anxious 
to  remove  the  difficulty,  and  offers  two  more  explanations 
of  the  verse.^"^ 

Saadia's  theory,  based  on  Bible  verses  and  on  speculative 
arguments,  is  that  the  soul  like  every  other  being,  is  a  crea- 
tion of  God.  Its  creation  takes  place  at  the  moment  the  body, 
its  seat,  is  complete  and  about  to  come  into  the  world.^^  This 
statement  is  intended  to  express  Saadia's  opposition  to  the 
belief  in  the  pre-existence  of  the  soul,  which  makes  it  co- 
eternal  with  God.  While  the  soul  has  thus  a  beginning  in 
time  past,  it  is  nevertheless  immortal,  that  is,  it  has  no  end 
in  time  to  come.    This  point,  however,  is  not  discussed  here, 

^^  This  verse,  which  apparently  doubts  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
greatly  disturbed  the  Jewish  interpreters;  see  Luzzatto,  "n^lNH  n*"! 
(ed.  Lemberg),  1,35;  Epstein,  HJIIIJO  |t^'n^  HtTD^n,  Vienna,  1891, 
p.  46  (see  below,  note  618)  ;  Zohar,  on  Genesis,  4,  i.  One  of  Saadia's 
interpretations  of  this  verse  was  adopted  by  Abr.  Ibn  Ezra  and  by 
Rashi  ad  locum,  who  supports  it  by  the  same  verse  from  Joel,  2,  14, 
which  is  here  quoted  by  Saadia.  Joseph  Ibn  Saddik,  |tDP  D^iy,  ed. 
Horovitz,  p.  35,  11.  30  ff.,  likewise  makes  literal  use  of  Saadia's  inter- 
pretation. The  Karaite  Salmon  b.  Jeroham  (see  Isr,  Giinzig,  Der 
Commentar  des  Karaers  Jephet  ben  AH  Halevi  zu  den  Proverbien, 
Cracow,  1898,  p.  34,  n.  15)  may  also  have  used  Saadia  (comp.  JQR., 
XIII,  340).  Comp.  also  Goldziher,  Kitab  ma  am  al-nafs,  Berlin, 
1907,  pp.  46  f. 

^"^  See  on  this  point  Guttmann,  Saadia,  p.  199,  n.  2  (where  read 
ynn  for  y;n3,  as  in  Berechiah's  fllVDH.  p.  148,  bottom),  followed 
by  Horovitz,  Psychologie,  p.  24,  n.  40,  and  Neumark,  I,  544.  The  same 
view  was  taught  also  by  some  of  the  Church  Fathers.  Thus,  Isidore 
of  Seville  (d.  636)  :  Animam  non  esse  partem  divinae  substantiae 
vel  naturae;  nee  esse  earn  priusquam  corpori  tnisceatur,  constat; 
sed  tunc  cam  creari  quando  et  corpus  creatur,  cui  admisceri  videtur 
(Sententiarum,  liber  I,  c.  XII)  ;  comp.  Bonilla,  Hist,  de  la  Hlos. 
Espahola,  I,  243.    Comp.  also  Goldziher,  /.  c,  German  part,  pp.  17  f. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  225 

but  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  the  work/"*  The  substance  of  the 
soul  is  as  fine  and  brilHant  as  that  of  the  celestial  spheres,  nay, 
it  must  be  even  finer  than  the  latter,  for,  unlike  the  spheres,  it 
is  endowed  with  reason.  As  the  substance  of  the  spheres 
is  illuminated  by  the  stars,  so  is  the  substance  of  the  soul 
made  bright  and  luminous  by  the  light  of  wisdom.  By  wis- 
dom, Saadia  understands  that  which  is  acquired  through  the 
study  of  the  divine  law  and  through  a  moral  and  religious 
life  in  harmony  therewith.  This  is  fully  in  keeping  with  his 
view  regarding  the  influence  of  human  actions  on  the  con- 
dition of  the  soul,  as  propounded  in  the  preceding  chapter. 
Good  deeds  ennoble  the  soul  and  add  brightness  and  splendor 
to  its  substance ;  immorality,  on  the  contrary,  degrades  and 
darkens  it.  The  power  of  reasoning  is  an  essential  attribute 
of  the  soul  and  in  this  regard  it  is  independent  of  the  body. 
For  the  manifestation  of  this  power  the  soul  is  necessarily 
bound  up  with  the  body,  as  its  physical  instrument,  without 
which  it  cannot  act.  In  its  combination  with  the  body  the 
soul  appears  under  three  dififerent  aspects,  viz.  as  a  cognitive, 
a  spirited,  and  an  appetitive  power.'"^  These  three  powers  are 

^'^  'Amdndt,  273  (138  f.).  Speaking  of  the  soul,  Saadia  draws 
there  the  line  between  existence  without  beginning,  which  is  inadmis- 
sible, as  it  excludes  creation,  and  existence  without  end,  which  is 
admissible,  because,  once  the  soul  is  created,  it  can  be  coeternal  with 
its  Creator,  This  view  is  based  ultimately  on  a  scholastic  distinction 
between  perpetuity  and  eternity,  which  is  clearly  expressed  by  Isidore 
of  Seville  (/.  c.)  in  the  following  words:  Sicut  angeli,  ita  et  animae; 
habent  enim  initium,  finem  vero  nullum.  Nam  quaedam  in  rebus 
temporalia  sunt,  quaedam  perpetua,  quaedam  vero  sempiterna.  Tem- 
poralia  sunt  quibus  inest  ortus  et  obitus;  perpetua  quibus  ortus,  non 
terminus;  sempiterna,  quibus  nee  ortus,  nee  terminus.  There  is, 
in  my  opinion,  no  reason  for  doubting,  with  Horovitz  (Psychologie, 
p.  23,  n.  38;  comp.  p.  65,  n.  128),  Saadia's  positive  denial  of  the  pre- 
existence  of  the  soul,  the  assertion  of  Abraham  Tbn  Ezra  (Com- 
mentary on  Is.  48,  16)  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

""'  This  is  the  well-known  Platonic  division  of  the  soul,  which  was 
accepted  by  several  Jewish  philosophers.  I  have  prepared  a  special 
essay  on  the  subject  and  refrain  from  discussing  it  here;  comp. 
Guttmann,  p.  201 ;  Horovitz,  pp.  30  f . ;  Malter,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  I 
(1910-1911),  p.  460.  Saadia  discusses  the  three  faculties  of  the  soul 
also  at  the  beginning  of  the  tenth  chapter. 

15 


226  SAADIA  GAON 

not  to  be  taken  as  three  separate  souls,  but  as  ■  different 
manifestations  of  one  and  the  same  psychic  entity.  The  seat 
of  the  soul,  the  author  states  again,  is  in  the  heart,  the  central 
organ  of  the  nervous  system  and  thus  the  power-house  of  all 
sensation  and  motion.  It  is  true  that  some  large  arteries 
ramify  from  the  brain,  but  these  have  no  psychic,  only 
physical  functions,"^  It  is  because  of  the  heart's  being  the 
physical  organ  of  the  soul  that  Scripture  always  uses  heart 
and  soul  (tJ'SJ')   3^)  as  synonyms. 

It  might  be  objected,  the  author  continues,  that  if  the  soul  is 
such  a  sublime  being,  even  finer  than  the  celestial  spheres,  why 
should  God  have  sent  it  down  into  an  ignoble  physical  frame  ? 
This  objection,  Saadia  says,  implies  that  God,  the  Creator, 
acted  unfairly  toward  one  of  His  own  creations,  which  is 
absurd,  as  it  contradicts  the  very  concept  of  God,  the  just 
and  benevolent.  Moreover,  the  question  in  itself  has  no 
sense,  for  soul  means  nothing  else  than  a  spiritual  being 
acting  in  and  through  a  body.  An  active  soul  without  a  body 
is  as  imaginable  as  a  fire  burning  without  combustible  ma- 
terial. Body  and  soul  are  two  correlatives,  absolutely  de- 
pending upon  one  another.  In  combination  they  constitute 
man.  In  a  previous  chapter,  this  combination,  representing 
man,  was  set  forth  as  God's  purpose  in  creating  the  world , 
the  ultimate  purpose  in  creating  man  being  that  he  should 
attain  to  happiness  through  his  own  merits.  This  is  only 
possible  when,  in  the  constant  struggle  between  the  two 
partners, between  the  noble  aspirations  of  the  soul  and  the  low 
desires  of  the  body,  man  follows  the  counsel  of  his  better 
half,  the  soul ;  that  is,  obeys  the  Law.'"'^    To  demand  that  the 

'"^  This  is  in  contradiction  to  what  he  says  in  his  Commentary  on 
the  Sefer  Yemrah,  p.  27  (French,  47),  11.  4-5,  where  he  places  the 
cognitive  faculty  in  the  brain  (Plato).  It  is  possible,  however, 
that  in  the  Commentary  he  does  not  give  his  own  view,  but  that  of 
the  author  of  the  Sefer  Yesirah,  as  he  understands  him.  The  question 
here  discussed  is  treated  also  in  the  Commentary,  pp.  2)2>  f-  (55)  > 
comp.  Kaufmann,  Die  Sinne,  p.  63;  Horovitz,  Psychologie,  p.  30, 
n.  50. 

'•"Comp.  Maker,  "Personifications  of  Soul  and  Body,"  in  JQR., 
N.  S.,  vol.  II  (1911-1912),  p.  473. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  227 

soul  should  have  been  left  alone,  therefore,  reveals  a  failure 
to  understand  God's  purpose,  and  is  tantamount  to  declaring 
all  creation  as  meaningless.  One  might  just  as  well  ask  that 
the  soul  should  be  a  star  in  heaven  or  an  angel.  It  might  be 
one  or  the  other,  but  then  it  would  not  be  a  soul."'" 

The  investigation  into  the  substance  of  the  soul  is  here 
closed,  and  the  author  turns  to  the  discussion  of  the  other 
two  points  announced  in  the  description  of  the  chapter, 
namely,  "  death  and  what  follows."  Body  and  soul  together, 
he  declares,  are  only  one  agent,  as  indicated  in  the  Bible 
(Genesis,  2,  7),  hence  reward  and  punishment  can  only  be 
meted  out  to  both  together  as  a  unit.  This  statement  was 
necessary,  he  says,  because  many  people  have  confused  ideas 
in  this  matter,  some  asserting  that  the  soul  alone  is  the  sub- 
ject of  reward  or  punishment,  while  others  affirm  the  same 
of  the  body  alone.  The  Karaite  Benjamin  Nahawandi, 
basing  the  assertion  on  certain  verses  (Ezekiel,  32,  27,  and 
Psalms,  35,  10),  singled  out  the  bones  as  the  part  of  the 
body  that  is  punished  or  rewarded.  All  this  confusion  is 
due  to  ignorance  of  the  proper  usage  of  Hebrew.  The 
Bible  often  ascribes  sins  and  virtues  either  to  the  soul  {e.  g. 
Leviticus,  4,  2)  or  to  the  flesh,  "basar"  {e.  g.  Psalms, 
145,21).  These  verses  are  taken  literally,  and  various 
theories  built  upon  them.  What  is  overlooked  is  that  in  each 
instance  the  words  are  to  be  understood  in  the  sense  of 
person,  including  both  soul  and  body.  The  same  applies 
to  the  theory  of  Benjamin.  Saadia  quotes  numerous  verses 
from  the  Bible  corroborating  his  view,  and  winds  up  with  the 
citation  of  the  famous  Talmudic  parable  (b.  Sanhedrin,  gia) 
of  two  men,  one  blind  and  the  other  lame,  who,  when  called 
to  account  for  the  despoHation  of  the  king's  garden  which 
they  were  appointed  to  watch,  denied  the  deed  on  the  ground 
of  their  physical  disabilities.  The  king  placed  the  lame  man 
on  the  shoulders  of  his  blind  companion  and  demonstrated 
how  they  had  committed  the  crime.     So  body  and  soul  dis- 

°"*  This  argumentation  is  in  keeping  with  Saadia's  view,  that  man 
is  superior  to  the  angels,  regarding  which  see  above,  note  485. 


228  SAADIA  GAON 

own  responsibility  for  their  deeds  in  this  world,  as  neither 
of  them  can  act  without  the  other.  God  then  reunites  them 
and  metes  out  punishment  to  both  together.'^" 

Death  is  merely  a  dissolution  of  the  partnership  of  soul 
and  body.  At  the  very  entrance  upon  life  every  human  being 
is  equipped  by  God  with  a  certain  amount  of  physical  power, 
which  suffices  for  a  corresponding  period  of  earthly  exis- 
tence. Sometimes  God  sees  fit  to  shorten  or  lengthen  this 
natural  term  of  a  given  individual ;  then  He  adds  to  or  takes 
away  from  the  original  measure  of  vitality.  Various  in- 
stances are  quoted  from  the  Bible. 

Saadia  describes  also  some  circumstances  attending  death. 
Here,  however,  he  does  not  speak  as  a  philosopher,  but  as 
a  believer  in  certain  common  views  and  traditions  prevalent 
among  the  Jews  and,  in  a  modified  form,  among  the  AIu- 
hammedans.  At  the  moment  a  person  is  to  die — so  the 
Talmud  {h.  'Abodah  Zarah,  26b)  says — the  Angel  of  Death, 
all  of  yellowish  fire  and  covered  with  eye-like  spots  of  bluish 
fire,  appears  with  a  drawn  sword  aimed  at  the  sick  person. 
Beholding  this  sight,  the  victim  is  greatly  shocked.  At  this 
moment  the  soul  departs  from  the  body.  Saadia  adduces 
several  Bible  verses  to  sustain  the  Talmudic  tradition.  The 
passage  in  the  Talmud  does  not  contain  all  the  particulars 
given  by  Saadia.^*^*^  The  fire  and  its  dififerent  colors  were 
added  from  some  other  source.  Nor  does  the  spontaneous 
departure  of  the  soul  accord  with  the  Talmud.  There  it  is 
a  bitter  drop  falling  from  the  sword  into  the  open  mouth  of 
the  terrified  person  that  brings  about  death.  That  the  soul 
is  not  seen  when  departing  from  the  body  is  explained  by 
the  fact  of  its  extreme  fineness  and  transparency,  as,  for  the 
same  reason,  we  cannot  see  the  substance  of  the  heavenly 
spheres.    "  If  one  should  take  ten  lamps  of  fine,  transparent 

^  See  Malter,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  II  (1911-1912),  pp.  454  f. 

"®*  Moses  Tachau,  the  severest  critic  of  Saadia  among  the  mediae- 
val Rabbis  (see  below,  notes  597-616),  does  not  fail  to  make  use  of 
this  point  against  Saadia  (see  Ozar  Nechmad,  II,  93).  For  parallels 
from  Greek  and  Christian  mythology  see  Wiinsche,  Lewy's  Fest- 
schrift, p.  97 ;  Bender,  JQR.,  VI,  ZZZ  ff-,  669  ff. ;  comp.  below,  notes 
518,  603. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  ^29 

glass,  put  one  into  the  other,  and  place  a  Hght  in  the  middle, 
no  one  at  a  distance  would  think  that  the  light  is  inside  of  ten 
lamps.  Due  to  the  transparency  of  the  glass,  his  vision  passes 
straight  through  it  and  strikes  the  light  therein."  '^°  This  il- 
lustration is  to  explain  why  the  celestial  lights  alone  are  vis- 
ible to  the  human  eye,  while  the  spheres  in  which  they  are  set, 
and  which,  in  ancient  astronomy,  were  supposed  to  be  ten  in 
number,  cannot  be  discerned.  Indirectly  it  serves  also  as  an 
explanation  for  the  invisibility  of  the  soul,  which  is  of  trans- 
parent material  like  the  spheres. 

Upon  its  departure  from  the  body,  the  soul  of  the  righteous 
soars  up  to  heaven,  while  the  soul  of  the  wicked  roams  about 
restlessly.  For  this  view  the  author  quotes  the  authority 
of  the  Talmud  (h.  Shabbat,  152&)  and  supports  it  by  verses 
from  the  Bible.  During  the  process  of  the  body's  decompo- 
sition the  departed  souls  are  greatly  disturbed  on  account  of 
what  happens  to  their  former  abode,  just  as  one  is  over- 
whelmed by  grief  when  he  sees  the  house  in  which  he  lived 
for  a  long  time  laid  in  ruins.  This  suffering  is  greater  in 
the  homeless  souls  of  the  wicked.  The  separation  between 
the  souls  and  their  former  bodies  lasts  until  the  end  of 
days,  when,  as  was  stated  at  the  beginning,  the  number  of 
souls,  which  God  in  His  inscrutable  wisdom  has  decided 
to  create,  is  complete  and  the  time  for  resurrection  has 
arrived.  All  souls  are  then  reunited  with  their  bodies  for- 
ever. 

The  ideas  here  touched  upon  belong  to  the  large  subject 
of  Jewish  eschatology.  The  author  is  not  prepared  to  dis- 
cuss such  matters  at  this  point,  and  refers  the  reader  to  the 
ninth  chapter,  which  is  devoted  entirely  to  questions  of 
eschatology.  The  closing  portion  of  the  present  chapter  is 
taken  up  with  the  refutation  of  the  very  ancient  belief  in 
the  migration  of  the  soul  after  death,  which  has  found 
adherents  in  many  sections  of  Jewry,  especially  the  Kab- 
balists.'"     According  to  this  theory  the  souls  of  the  dead 

'^^"'Amdnat,  205  (102),  bottom. 

'"The  doctrine  of  the  transmigration  of  the  soul,  which  in  Greek 
antiquity  was   represented  by   Empedocles   and    Pythagoras,    found 


230  SAADIA  GAON 

migrate  into  other  bodies,  with  which  they  start  upon  another 
earthly  career.  This  may  be  repeated  several  times.  Some 
aver  that  human  souls  often  migrate  into  animal  bodies  and 
vice  versa.  The  adherents  of  the  theory  adduce  various 
arguments,  among  them  that  children  often  undergo  great 
suffering,  which  can  be  explained  only  by  assuming  that  they 
are  expiating  sins  which  their  souls  committed  previously, 
while  residing  in  other  bodies.""'^  The  Jewish  followers  of  the 
doctrine  try  to  prove  it  by  numerous  verses  from  Scripture. 
Saadia  is  strongly  opposed  to  this  idea  in  all  its  phases. 
He  refutes  the  arguments  adduced  by  the  advocates  of 
metempsychosis  and  shows  that  all  the  verses  quoted  in  sup- 
port of  the  belief  have  been  misunderstood  and  misinter- 
preted. He  concludes  with  the  remark  that  he  would  have 
considered  it  beneath  his  dignity  to  polemicize  against  such 
crude  and  superstitious  notions,  were  it  not  that  he  feared 
the  evil  influence  they  may  have  on  the  credulous. 

(VH)  Saadia  distinguishes  three  periods  in  the  Hfe  of 
the  soul  after  its  departure  from  the  body.  The  first  period 
is  that  of  separation,  during  which,  as  was  shown  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  the  souls  of  the  righteous  abide  in  heaven 
"  under  the  throne  of  God,"  while  those  of  the  wicked 
wander  about,  homeless.  This  period  lasts  until  all  souls  to 
be  created  have  passed  through  their  earthly  career.  When 
this  time  arrives,  creation  is  naturally  discontinued.  This 
does  not  mean  that  the  world  comes  to  an  end,  for  then  the 
second,  more  auspicious,  period  sets  in,  that  of  resurrec- 
tion, when  most  of  the  departed  souls  w^U  be  reunited  with 
their  former  bodies  and  begin  life  anew.    As  we  shall  see 

many  adherents  among  the  various  peoples  of  the  Orient.  Anan, 
the  founder  of  Karaism,  who  borrowed  the  theory  from  the  Muham- 
medans  and  spread  it  among  the  Jews,  is  said  to  have  written  a 
special  work  thereon;  see  Harkavy,  JE.,  I,  555,  and  in  the  place 
quoted  above,  note  499 ;  The  Karaite  Kirkisani  {Semitic  Studies  in 
Memory  of  Kohut,  pp.  449  f.)  combats  the  belief  in  transmigration 
with  weapons  borrowed  from  Saadia;  comp.  also  ibidem,  p.  438,  the 
references  given  by  Poznanski. 
^^  See  above,  note  490a,  and  below,  note  525a. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  231 

later,  Saadia  identifies  this  period  with  the  Messianic  time. 
At  the  expiration  of  the  second  period  the  present  material 
world  will  dissolve,  and  a  new  spiritual  world  will  be  created, 
into  which  all  souls,  including  those  of  the  wicked,  will  be 
transferred,  the  place  in  which  they  will  remain  forever — 
those  of  the  righteous  enjoying  eternal  bliss  and  those  of  the 
wicked  doomed  to  everlasting  suffering.  This  is  the  world 
called  'Olam  ha-ba' ,  "  the  world  to  come,"  in  which  final 
judgment  is  held,  and  reward  and  punishment  are  meted  out. 

As  the  status  of  the  soul  during  the  first  period  has  been 
treated  of  in  the  foregoing  chapter,  Saadia  proceeds  to  con- 
sider the  second  period,  to  which  he  devotes  the  seventh 
chapter  of  his  book,  with  the  special  title,  "  On  the  Resur- 
rection of  the  Dead  in  this  World."  The  addition  "  in  this 
world  ^^  "  is  significant,  as  it  expresses  the  principal  conten- 
tion of  Saadia,  who,  in  opposition  to  others,  maintained  that 
resurrection  will  take  place  in  this  world  of  ours  as  a  nat- 
ural phenomenon.  He  informs  us  at  the  beginning  of 
the  chapter  that  this  is  the  view  of  the  majority  of  the  Jewish 
people,  who  take  the  predictions  of  our  prophets  in  their 
plain,  literal  sense.  Some,  however,  are  of  the  opinion  that 
the  numerous  verses  in  the  Prophets  promising  resurrection 
simultaneously  with  the  arrival  of  the  Messiah,  are  to  be 
taken  figuratively,  and  that  resurrection  is  to  be  one  of  the 
events  of  the  "  world  to  come,"  where  the  present  order  of 
things  will  be  overthrown. 

The  demonstration  of  the  correctness  of  his  view,  as 
against  that  of  the  minority  mentioned,  was  to  Saadia  a 
matter  of  great  importance,  for  it  involved  God's  justice 
toward  the  people  of  Israel.  According  to  Saadia  the  world 
to  come  is  not  intended  for  Israel  alone.  The  pious  of  all 
nations  will  have  a  share  in  it,  a  view  expressed  in  the 
Talmud."'^    What  is  Israel  going  to  receive  as  a  reward  for 

^"  In  the  presentation  of  this  chapter  I  have  combined  the  contents 
of  both  the  Oxford  and  the  St.  Petersburg  recensions;  for  all  the 
details  regarding  these  two  texts  see  the  Bibliography,  below,  p.  360. 

^^^Tosefta  (ed.  Znckermandel),  Synhedr'm,  13,  2;  see  Zunz,  Zur 
Geschichte,  pp.  371  ff. ;  Guttmann,  p.  216. 


232  SAADIA  GAON 

all  the  indescribable  sufferings  and  unparalled  martyr- 
dom experienced  at  the  hands  of  its  oppressors  during  the 
long  period  of  its  dispersion?  Is  it  conceivable  that  a  just 
and  merciful  God  should  select  a  particular  people  to  be  the 
guardian  and  disseminator  of  His  Law  and  then  abandon  it  to 
the  cruelty  and  persecution  of  other  nations,  without  any 
prospect  of  a  reward  for  its  unflinching  loyalty?  To  be 
sure,  our  prophets  assure  us  that  Israel's  redemption  will 
come,  that  God  will  send  His  messenger,  the  Messiah,  to 
vindicate  the  name  of  His  people  and  restore  it  to  its 
pristine  glory.  But  what  of  all  the  innumerable  martyrs 
who  suffered  torture  and  death  for  their  faith  and  for 
the  sanctification  of  God's  name?  What  of  all  the  pious 
men  and  women  in  Israel,  who  in  ages  gone  by  lived  a  life 
of  misery  and  affliction  because  of  their  faithful  adherence 
to  the  God-given  religion  ?  Have  they  lived  and  suffered  in 
vain,  and  are  they  never  to  witness  the  vindication  of  their 
cause  and  the  restoration  of  Israel  ?  To  say  that  the  admin- 
istration of  justice  is  reserved  entirely  for  the  unknown 
world  to  come,  as  was  partly  assumed  in  the  case  of  indi- 
viduals, would  be  a  very  unsatisfactory  solution  of  this 
problem.  Our  minds  are  not  set  at  rest  thereby,  and  they 
humbly  demand  that  justice  be  done  in  this  world. 

It  is  by  such  reflections  that  we  are  strengthened  in  the 
belief  that  the  Biblical  promises  of  the  revival  of  the  dead 
are  not  mere  metaphors,  but  are  meant  literally ;  that  simul- 
taneously with  the  advent  of  Israel's  redeemer,  the  promised 
Messiah,  the  dead  of  the  faithful  and  penitent  of  the  nation, 
to  the  exclusion  of  those  who  led  a  wicked  life  and  died  unre- 
pentant, will  revive  to  see  with  their  bodily  eyes  the  redemp- 
tion of  their  people  and  its  rehabilitation  on  "  the  Mount 
of  God." 

Saadia,  as  a  rationalist,  naturally  cannot  stop  here.  The 
questions  that  crowd  upon  his  mind  and  try  to  overthrow 
his  belief  are  many.  Is  bodily  resurrection  a  possibility?  Is 
it  at  all  conceivable  that  human  bodies,  after  having  been 
decomposed  and  dissolved  into  atoms  for  thousands  of  years, 
should    unite    again    and    reassume    their    original    form? 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  233 

Saadia  admits  that  for  those  who  believe  in  the  eternity  of 
the  material  world  and  the  immutability  of  the  laws  of  nature, 
resurrection  is  an  impossibility.  For  us,  however,  the  be- 
lievers in  monotheism,  who  recognize  in  God  the  Almighty 
Power  that  created  all  nature  and  keeps  it  under  His  control, 
the  belief  in  resurrection  does  not  involve  more  difficulties, 
nay  involves  even  less,  than  the  belief  in  a  creatio  ex  nihllo,  in 
which  we  all  agree.  Nature,  as  we  know,  does  not  destroy 
anything;  it  merely  resolves  the  constituents  of  a  given 
body  into  its  original  elements,  which  are  indestructible. 
Now  if  we  are  all  ready  to  believe  that  God  has  created 
even  the  elements  out  of  nothing,  why  should  we  deny 
the  possibility  of  His  rebuilding  bodies  out  of  their  original 
and  undestroyed  elements?  We  do  not  claim  that  the  dis- 
persed atoms  will  spontaneously  join  together  and  by  a 
natural  process,  come  to  life  again,'"  for  we  have  never 
witnessed  such  a  phenomenon  in  the  realm  of  nature.  What 
we  say  is  that  resurrection  is  one  of  the  miracles  which  God, 
through  His  prophets,  has  promised  to  perform  for  His 
people  at  the  time  of  their  redemption.  There  is  no  obvious 
reason  why  we  should  deny  the  possibility  of  this  miracle 
more  than  of  all  other  miracles  reported  in  the  Bible,  none 
of  which  appears  more  natural  and  more  acceptable.  The 
Bible  even  relates  definite  instances  of  the  revival  of  the 
dead  through  the  prophets  Elijah  (I  Kings,  17,  22)  and 
Elisha  (H  Kings,  4,  35),  which  belongs  to  the  same  category 
of  miracles  as  resurrection. 

Having  thus  disposed  of  the  question  from  the  point  of 
view  of  reason,  the  author  turns  to  the  examination  of  the 
numerous  Scriptural  verses  that  have  some  bearing  on  the 
subject.  A  large  number  of  these  verses,  as  the  whole 
famous  vision  of  Ezekiel,  chapter  37,  the  prophecies  of 
Isaiah  (26,  19),  Daniel  (12,  1-3),  and  others,  positively  ex- 
press the  promise  of  a  bodily  resurrection  in  this  world. 

''^^This  is  found  only  in  Landauer's  text,  p.  213,  11.  12-13;  comp, 
the  parallel  passage  in  the  other  recension,  Sttmschntid^v-Festschrift, 
p.  100  {Emunot,  p.  107),  11.  5-10. 


234  SAADIA  GAON 

The  opponents  of  this  behef  maintain  that  all  these  verses 
must  be  taken  in  a  metaphorical  sense,  and  they  adduce  vari- 
ous instances  of  similar  verses  which  are  commonly  taken  as 
metaphors.  Saadia,  although  in  many  other  relations  he 
himself  resorts  to  metaphorical  interpretations,  denies  the 
admissibility  of  the  method  in  the  present  case.  In  this  con- 
nection he  establishes  a  famous  exegetical  canon  which  has 
proved  of  great  importance  in  the  development  of  Bible 
study,  through  its  acceptance  by  eminent  commentators  of 
subsequent  ages.'"  According  to  this  canon  we  are  en- 
titled, or  even  in  duty  bound,  to  interpret  the  Scriptural 
word  in  a  figurative  sense  under  four  conditions  only :  first, 
when  the  literal  meaning  contradicts  a  truth  based  on  sense- 
perception  ;  second,  when  it  is  absolutely  incompatible  with 
the  dictates  of  reason;  third,  when  it  is  in  positive  conflict 
with  another  passage  of  the  Bible ;  and,  fourth,  when  it  denies 
a  well-established  ancient  tradition.  For  each  of  these  cases 
he  adduces  examples  from  the  Bible.  In  the  case  of  the 
verses  bearing  on  resurrection  none  of  these  rules  applies, 
and  we  are  therefore  constrained  to  take  them  in  their  literal 
sense.  If  we  were  at  liberty  to  construe  Scriptural  passages 
indiscriminately  as  metaphors,  there  would  eventually  be 
nothing  left  to  construe  in  a  plain  natural  sense.  We  could 
easily  take  all  the  narratives  of  the  Bible  and  all  its  laws  and 

"'The  question  of  the  permissibility  of  allegorical  interpretations 
{ta'mil,  in  the  language  of  Ibn  Tibbon  NinD)  was  hotly  disputed 
among  the  various  schools  of  the  Muhammedan  theologians,  espe- 
cially the  'Ash'arites  and  Mu'tazilites;  see  Goldziher,  in  Die  Kultur 
der  Gegemvart,  I,  5  (1913),  p.  305,  and  in  the  periodical  Der  Islam, 
III  (1912),  pp.  226-230.  From  the  Muhammedans  the  problem  was 
taken  over  first  by  the  Karaites,  Anan  (Harkavy,  Jahrhuch  filr 
jiidische  Geschichte  und  Literatur,  Berlin,  1899,  p.  113)  and  some  of 
his  followers.  A  discussion  of  the  subject  as  viewed  by  the  mediaeval 
Jewish  philosophers  requires  a  monograph.  As  to  Saadia,  whom 
Maimonides  follows,  see  Bacher,  Die  Bibelexegese  der  jiidischen 
Religionsphilosophen,  etc.,  pp.  8  ff. ;  Guttmann,  Saadia,  pp.  21,  221, 
n.  I,  and  (with  reference  to  Maimonides)  in  Isr.  Lewy's  Festschrift, 
pp.  319  f.  {Moses  ben  Maimon,  II,  210  f.);  above,  note  446;  comp. 
^^«D15'«  nXDD,  edited  by  J.  Brill,  Paris,  1871,  p.  57. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  235 

precepts  as  mere  figures  of  speech.  For  instance,  the  law, 
''  ye  shall  kindle  no  fire  on  the  Sabbath  day  "  might  be  inter- 
preted to  mean  ye  shall  not  go  to  war  on  the  Sabbath  day, 
for  in  Numbers,  21,  28  war  is  designated  as  fire.  The  law 
that  forbids  taking  from  a  nest  the  "  mother-bird  with  the 
young"  (Deuteronomy,  22,6)  might  mean  that  in  conquer- 
ing an  enemy  we  should  not  kill  the  women  with  their  chil- 
dren, for  the  same  phrase  is  used  in  the  latter  sense  (Hosea, 
10,  14)  .""^  Saadia  cites  numerous  other  passages  for  further 
illustration,  showing  the  absurdity  of  such  interpretations. 
The  opponents  of  the  idea  of  bodily  resurrection  point, 
however,  to  several  verses  in  Scripture  that  seem  to  bear  out 
their  view,  e.  g.  (Psalms,  yS,  39)  :  "And  he  remembered 
that  they  were  but  flesh,  a  wind  that  passeth  away  and  cometh 
not  again  " ;  or  {ib.,  103,  15-16)  :  "  As  for  man,  his  days  are 
as  grass,  as  a  flower  of  the  field,  so  he  flourishes,  for  the 
wind  passeth  over  it,  and  it  is  gone,  and  the  place  thereof  shall 
know  it  no  more  " ;  further  (Job,  7,  9-10)  :  "  As  the  cloud 
is  consum.ed  and  vanisheth  away,  so  he  that  goes  down  to  the 
grave  shall  come  up  no  more ;  he  shall  return  no  more  to  his 
house,  neither  shall  his  place  know  him  any  more  " ;  and 
{ih.,  14,  12)  :  "  Man  lieth  down  and  riseth  not,  till  the 
heavens  be  no  more  they  shall  not  awake,  nor  be  roused  out 
of  their  sleep."  In  answer  thereto  Saadia  contends  that  these 
and  similar  verses  have  no  reference  to  the  question  of  resur- 
rection ;  they  merely  emphasize  the  weakness  and  transitori- 
ness  of  human  life,  the  inability  of  man  to  fight  death  or  to 
rise  after  death.'"  It  should  be  remarked  that  Saadia  here 
disagrees  with  the  Talmud  (Baba  Batra,  i6a),  where  the 
verse  from  Job,  7,  9  is  quoted  as  a  proof  that  Job  denied 


°^*  The  same  arguments,  applied  to  verses  of  the  Koran,  are  used 
by  the  Muharnmedan  theologian  Fahr  al-Din  Razi  (13th  century), 
see  Goldziher,  in  Der  Islam,  III,  228  f. 

""The  same  interpretation  he  gives  in  his  Commentary  on  Job 
in  the  verses  here  cited. 

"*  For  other  instances  of  Saadia's  deviation  from  the  Talmud  and 
the  Midrash  see  above,  notes  462,  482,  509a  and  below,  note  603; 


236  SAADIA  GAOM 

In  addition  to  the  proofs  from  the  Bible,  Saadia  then 
quotes  several  passages  from  the  Talmud  corroborative  of 
his  view.  The  latter,  he  remarks,  are  too  many  for  all  to  be 
quoted.  The  closing  portion  of  the  chapter  is  devoted  to 
the  answer  of  ten  questions  that  either  were  asked  or  might 
be  asked,  in  connection  with  the  idea  of  resurrection.  Some 
of  these  are:  Who  will  be  excluded  from  resurrection? 
Answer :  Only  the  heretics  and  atheists  among  the  Israelites 
who  do  not  repent  before  death.  Will  the  revived  dead  die 
again?  Answer:  They  will  not  die,  but  live  through  the 
whole  second — that  is,  the  Messianic — period,  until  the  begin- 
ning of  the  third  period,  when  they  will  be  transferred  to 
the  eternal  world  to  come.  Will  the  earth  hold  so  many 
people?  In  answer  to  this  question  Saadia  enters  upon  a 
detailed  computation,  which  results  in  the  assurance  that  a 
hundred  and  fiftieth  part  of  the  surface  of  the  earth  would 
be  sufficient  to  supply  the  needs  of  all.  It  should  be  re- 
marked in  passing  that  Saadia's  computation  is  based  on  his 
behef  that  the  time  of  the  Messianic  redemption  was  not 
very  distant.'''^'"  The  other  questions  refer  mostly  to  the 
mode  of  life  which  will  obtain  among  the  people  during  those 
blessed  times.     (See  below,  pp.  244  f¥. 

In  one  of  the  two  different  recensions  '^^  of  this  chapter 
the  author  concludes  with  the  expression  of  the  hope  that 
the  belief  in  resurrection  as  here  explained  may  prove  a 
source  of  comfort  to  his  oppressed  people  and  strengthen 
their  faith  in  God.     Finally  he  utters  the  prayer  that  in 

Miiller,  Oeuvres,  IX,  p.  xxxvi,  n.  11 ;  Davidson,  Saadia's  Polemic 
against  Hiwi  Al-Balkhi,  New  York,  1915,  p.  42,  n.  96;  p.  48,  n.  126; 
p.  54.  n.  157;  p.  58,  n.  177;  comp.  also  J.  N.  Epstein,  Der  gaondische 
Kommentar  zur  Ordnung  Tohoroth,  Berlin,  1915,  pp.  38,  41,  bottom. 
The  Komnientar  in  question  is  essentially  a  work  of  Saadia;  see 
below,  p.  342,  no.  i. 

^*  There  is  much  speculation  as  to  the  year  of  redemption 
according  to  Saadia's  Computations ;  see  the  references  given  below, 
notes  521,  522. 

"^"The  so-called  St.  Petersburg  recension  (edited  by  Bacher  in 
the  Sttinschntider-Festschrift),  wliich  was  followed  by  Ibn  Tibbon, 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  237 

reward  thereof  he,  too,  may  be  found  worthy  of  beholding 
that  glorious  time. 

(VIII)  In  the  foregoing  chapter  Saadia  endeavored  to 
prove  that  the  resurrection  will  be  a  special  feature  of  the 
Messianic  redemption  of  Israel.  In  so  far,  resurrection  pre- 
supposes the  coming  of  the  Messiah.  As  a  matter  of  reason- 
ing, the  belief  in  the  final  redemption  of  Israel  is  based  on 
the  supposition  that  it  would  be  wholly  incompatible  with 
God's  justice  to  abandon  His  people  to  its  fate  forever,  after 
having  chosen  it  as  the  bearer  and  promulgator  of  His 
truth,  for  which  it  was  to  endure  the  greatest  sufferings. 
The  same  argument,  as  we  have  seen,  served  the  author 
also  as  a  proof  for  resurrection.  This  is  quite  natural, 
as  resurrection  is,  in  his  view,  an  incident  of  the  Mes- 
sianic time.  On  the  whole  the  matter  might  have  rested  here  ; 
but  owing  to  the  magnitude  of  the  Messianic  idea  and  its 
national  importance  for  the  Jewish  people,  the  author  devotes 
a  special  chapter  to  it,  entitled  "  On  the  (final)  Redemption," 
in  which  he  proposes  to  discuss  the  subject  in  its  manifold 
phases. 

In  an  opening  paragraph,  the  author,  as  is  his  wont,  refers 
to  the  explicit  statements  of  the  prophets,  containing  definite 
promises  of  Israel's  deliverance ;  mentions  briefly  the  argu- 
ment of  reason  given  before ;  and  depicts,  in  a  highly  poetic 
style,  the  power  of  Almighty  God,  as  it  manifests  itself  in 
nature  and  in  the  history  of  mankind — all  of  which  tends  to 
show  that  for  Him  the  liberation  of  a  people  can  involve  no 
difficulty.  The  nations  around  us,  who  see  our  misfortune, 
mock  and  deride  us  and  consider  our  hope  as  foolish ;  but  this 
is  because  they  have  never  gone  through  our  experience  and 
have  never  believed  as  strongly  as  we  do.  "  A  person  that 
has  never  seen  seed  sown,  when  for  the  first  time  he  sees  the 
husbandman  throwing  grain  into  the  fissures  of  the  soil 
to  sprout  there,  is  apt  to  consider  the  sower  a  fool,  and  will 
realize  his  own  ignorance  only  in  the  time  of  harvesting, 
when  he  sees  that  a  measure  cast  forth  produces  twenty  or 
thirty  measures.  Scripture  says :  '  They  that  sow  in  tears 
shall  reap  in  joy.'     (Psalms  126,  5.)     Furthermore  a  person 


238  SAADIA  GAON 

that  has  never  witnessed  the  bringing  up  of  a  child,  when  he 
observes  a  father  undergoing  all  sorts  of  hardships  in  order 
to  give  his  son  a  good  education,  may  ridicule  him,  saying, 
What  is  the  use  of  all  this?  But  after  the  child  has  grown 
up,  has  become  a  scholar  or  a  philosopher,  a  governor  or  a 
general,  then  the  taunter  realizes  that  it  was  he  that  made 
himself  ridiculous."  "°  The  great  sufferings  of  Israel  have 
likewise  only  a  preparatory  character  and  an  educational 
purpose.  Out  of  her  present  decline  will  spring  new  life  and 
fresh  vigor,  to  the  amazement  of  those  who  had  held  her 
in  contempt ;  for,  says  Scripture :  "  The  Lord  thy  God  is  a 
merciful  God,  He  will  not  fail  thee  nor  destroy  thee." 
(Deuter.,  4,  31.) 

Proceeding  from  the  prophecies  of  Daniel,  chapters  10-12, 
Saadia  makes  an  attempt  to  fix  the  time  for  the  coming  of 
the  expected  Messiah.  His  computation  is  too  complicated 
to  be  reproduced.  Various  theories  have  been  advanced  by 
recent  scholars  '"^  as  to  the  year  of  redemption  resulting  from 
these  computations,  but  none  of  them  is  satisfactory.  The 
matter  has  been  treated  elsewhere  "^  in  full.  Saadia  adopts 
the  opinion  of  the  Talmud  (/>.  Ta'anit,  I,  i;  h.  Synhedrin, 
97&),  that  the  appointed  time  for  the  redemption  of  Israel 
will  be  adhered  to  only  in  case  the  Israelites  do  not  prove 
themselves  worthy  of  a  speedier  deliverance  from  the 
exile.  If  they  repent  of  their  sins  and  better  their  con- 
duct, they  will  not  have  to  wait  for  the  extreme  time-limit. 
If,  however,  the  appointed  time  is  reached,  and  the  con- 
duct of  the  Jewish  people  does  not  warrant  their  deliver- 
ance, God  will  bring  upon  them  the  persecutions  of  base 
kings,  who  will  expel  them  from  their  countries,  and  by 
all  sorts  of  oppressive  laws  will  drive  them  to  despair, 
so  that  many  of  them  will  leave  their  faith.  Those  who. 
after   this   purifying  process,   remain   steadfast   and   loyal 

^'^  Arnandt,  p.  232  (Em.,  p.  119)  ;  comp.  Munk,  Notice,  etc.,  p.  2y', 
Michel  A.  Weill,  L'Unlvers  Israelite,  1870,  pp.  271  ff. 

•^See  Poznanski,  MGWJ.,  XLIV  (1900),  400  ff. 

^^  See  Malter,  "  Saadia's  Messianic  Computation,"  in  Neumark's 
Journal  of  Jewish  Lore  and  Philosophy,  Cincinnati,  1919,  pp.  45-59' 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  239 

to  their  religion  will  then  be  redeemed.  Using  traditions 
supposed  to  have  originated  in  the  earlier  Geonic  period, 
Saadia  mentions  a  king  by  the  name  of  Armilus,^"'  who  is  to 
bring  terrible  suffering  upon  the  house  of  Israel.  This 
king  is  in  all  probability  identical  with  Romulus,  the  founder 
of  Rome,  which  stands  for  the  Church.  According  to 
the  Talmud  (Sukkah,  52a,  h)  a  scion  of  the  tribe  of 
Joseph  will  appear  as  the  Messianic  precursor  of  the  real 
Messiah  of  the  house  of  David  and  conquer  Jerusalem  for 
the  Jewish  people ;  but  king  Armilus  will  wrest  it  from  him, 
kill  him  and  many  of  his  followers,  and  usher  in  the  period 
of  the  great  persecutions.  Finally  the  real  Messiah  will  ar- 
rive and  wreak  vengeance  on  the  persecutor.  Saadia  finds 
all  the  details  of  these  great  struggles  and  of  the  ultimate 
victory  of  Israel  predicted  in  numerous  verses  quoted  from 
the  prophets,  on  the  basis  of  which  he  draws  a  glorious 
picture  of  Israel's  ultimate  salvation. 

Having  thus  established  his  view  that  the  Messianic  pre- 
dictions of  the  prophets  refer  without  exception  to  a  future 
time  in  which  they  are  sure  to  be  fulfilled,  the  author,  in  a 
lengthy,  controversial  paragraph,  feels  constrained  to  turn 
against  those  who  maintain  a  totally  different  opinion. 
There  are  some  so-called  Jews,"""*  he  says  sarcastically,  who 

'"^  See  Ginzberg,  JE.,  s.  v.  Armilus,  also  in  ^XltJ'^  IVIt;,  II,  201. 

^^  Various  views  have  been  advanced  as  to  the  persons  here  alluded 
to.  In  particular,  see  for  the  literature  Kaufmann,  Attributenlehre, 
p.  84;  Guttmann,  Saadia,  p.  214,  n.  i;  Poznanski,  MGWJ.,  1895, 
pp.  441  ff.,  and  later  in  Semitic  Studies  in  Memory  of  Kohut, 
Berlin,  1897,  p.  438  (comp.  also  his  Karaite  Literary  Opponents  of 
Saadiah,  p.  98,  and  ZfhB.,  Ill,  176)  ;  see  also  David  Joel,  Der 
Aberglaube,  etc.,  Breslau,  1883,  II,  3;  Horovitz,  Psychologie,  p. 
69.  Saadia  uses  the  same  phrase  in  his  argument  against  the  be- 
lievers in  the  transmigration  of  the  soul,  Am.,  p.  207,  bottom,  Em., 
p.  103  (see  above,  note  511)  and  in  the  Sefer  ha-Galui  (see  Malter, 
JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  Ill  (1912-1913),  p.  497,  1.  9).  To  my  mind  neither 
here  nor  there  was  any  particular  sect  meant  by  Saadia.  Adherents 
of  such  theories  were  found  among  the  Rabbanites  as  well  as  among 
the  Karaites  and  other  sectaries  (see  below,  note  577).  This,  how- 
ever, is  not  the  place  to  prove  it;  I  have  dealt  with  the  question  in 
detail  in  my  forthcoming  edition  of  the  Eniunot. 


240  SAADIA  GAON 

claim  that  most  of  the  Messianic  promises  of  the  Bible  were 
actually  fulfilled  during  the  time  of  the  Second  Temple, 
while  the  others,  which  were  not  fulfilled,  were  definitely 
withdrawn,  because  they  were  originally  made  on  the  con- 
dition that  the  religious  conduct  of  the  Israelites  would 
prove  them  deserving  of  the  benefits  intended  for  them, 
which  was  not  the  case.  Saadia  strongly  opposes  this  theory, 
and  proves  that  it  is  based  on  false  premises  and  on  a  mis- 
understanding of  the  Biblical  passages.  He  points  in  par- 
ticular to  fifteen  characteristic  features  of  the  Messianic 
time  as  described  in  the  Bible,  and  shows  that  none  applies 
to  the  condition  of  the  Jews  during  the  period  of  the  Second 
Temple  and  the  times  following  it.  For  instance,  we  are  told 
that  in  the  Messianic  time  all  humanity  will  believe  in  one 
God  (Zechariah,  14,  9),  that  all  nations  will  be  free,  none  of 
them  being  forced  to  serve  the  interests  of  the  other  (Isaiah, 
62,  8) ,  that  all  wars  between  the  nations  will  be  abolished, 
and  perfect  peace  will  reign  all  over  the  world  {ih.,  2,  4), 
and  so  forth.  But  what  we  actually  see  to  this  day  is  the 
very  opposite  of  such  conditions. 

These  arguments,  Saadia  continues,  hold  good  also  against 
the  adherents  of  Christianity,  for  they  too  claim  that  the 
Messianic  promises  have  been  fulfilled  in  the  past,  with  the 
only  difference  that  according  to  them  the  Messianic  time 
did  not  begin  with  the  period  of  the  Second  Temple,  but  135 
years  before  its  destruction — that  is,  with  the  birth  of  Jesus. 
There  are  several  other  objections  to  be  raised  against  the 
Christian  theory  in  particular.  Saadia  therefore  devotes  the 
closing  portion  of  the  eighth  chapter  to  the  refutation  of  the 
Messianic  doctrine  of  the  Christian  religion,  showing  espe- 
cially the  mistakes  made  by  the  followers  of  the  Church 
in  interpreting  certain  passages  of  the  Bible  as  referring  to 
Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

(IX)  The  ninth  chapter,  ''On  Reward  and  Punishment 
in  the  World  to  Come,"  concludes  Saadia's  eschatological 
studies.  In  accordance  with  the  method  adopted  by 
him,  he  opens  the  chapter  with  the  statement  that  the  Bible 
tells  us  of  the  existence  of  a  future  world  in  which  all  dififer- 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  241 

ences  will  be  adjusted  (Malachi,  3,  17-18).  The  proofs 
thereof  from  reason,  Scripture  and  tradition,  he  says, 
have  been  adduced  in  previous  chapters.  There  are,  how- 
ever, additional  proofs  requiring  special  attention  in  this 
place.  From  the  point  of  view  of  reason,  to  start  with,  it 
appears  impossible  that  "  the  amount  of  happiness  God 
intends  for  humanity  should  consist  exclusively  in  the  pleas- 
ures and  enjoyments  attainable  in  this  world,  for  every 
material  good  is  counterbalanced  by  an  evil  that  lurks 
behind  it,  all  happiness  is  neutralized  by  hardship,  all  pleas- 
ure by  pain,  and  all  enjoyment  by  grief  ;  nay,  the  evil  usually 
outweighs  the  good.  As  this  is  obvious,  it  is  absurd  that  a 
wise  God  should  have  appointed  these  delusive  worldly 
pleasures  as  the  final  goal  of  our  strivings.-^  Another  abode 
must  be  in  store  for  us,  in  which  perfect  life  and  unalloyed 
happiness  will  be  ours.  Moreover,  among  the  people  I  have 
met  I  have  never  found  any  that  were  fully  satisfied  and 
content  with  this  world,  even  if  they  had  attained  the  great- 
est power  and  the  highest  degree  of  dignity." "'"  This  in- 
evitable dissatisfaction,  Saadia  asserts,  is  an  inner  voice 
which  tells  us  that  this  world  with  all  its  restlessness  and 
vicissitudes  is  not  the  final  stage  of  our  life,  that  there  must 
be  something  that  surpasses  it  in  grandeur  and  sublimity. 
Hence  the  constant  longing  of  our  souls  for  a  good  unknown, 
the  instinctive  yearning  for  a  world  undefinable.  He  adduces, 
in  further  elaboration  of  the  argument,  the  conflict  that  arises 
between  conscience  and  inclination  in  the  presence  of  tempta- 
tion— as  to  commit  adultery  or  theft,  or  to  take  vengeance 
on  an  enemy,  and  the  like.  On  such  occasions  it  would  be 
quite  natural  for  us  to  yield  to  temptation  and  indulge  in 
pleasure.  But  God  has  implanted  in  us  a  certain  instinct 
which  invariably  makes  us  realize  what  is  morally  wrong  and 
sinful  and  bids  us  refrain  from  the  evil.  We  often  follow 
that  better  instinct  and  practice  renunciation,  though  it  causes 
great  pain  and  suffering.     Is  it  proper  to  assume  that  God 

^^^'Amanat,  p.  255,  bottom,  Em.,  p.  130. 
16 


242  S A  AD  I A  GAON 

created  men  with  consciences,  the  immediate  causes  of  such 
suffering,  without  providing  also  some  reward  for  the  suffer- 
ing? God  has  Hkewise  equipped  us  with  a  sense  of  duty  and 
the  faculty  of  realizing  that,  for  example,  justice,  honesty, 
and  uprightness  are  good  and  commendable.  In  most  cases, 
however,  if  we  abide  by  our  moral  duty  and  carry  out  the 
demands  of  justice,  we  expose  ourselves  to  the  enmity  of 
men ;  we  must  suffer  persecution  and  even  death.  It  appears 
impossible  that  God,  who  created  in  us  love  for  justice, 
should  let  us  perish  for  it  without  rewarding  us  therefor. 
Other  instances  are  mentioned  in  addition,  which  make  it 
clear  that  happiness  and  misfortune  are  not  properly  dis- 
tributed in  this  world,  and  some  sort  of  adjustment  is  our 
due.  In  some  cases  we  are  not  in  a  position  to  administer 
justice  even  if  we  so  desired.  If  a  person  commits  one  mur- 
der and  another  one  commits  ten,  we  can  do  no  more  than 
execute  them  both.  How  are  the  nine  additional  murders 
punished  ? 

These  arguments,  obviously  based  on  general  reasoning, 
are  followed  by  thirteen  proofs  taken  from  Scriptures.  The 
first  six  are  merely  inferences  from  what  happened  to  greater 
or  lesser  personages,  as  related  in  the  Bible.  Thus  (i), 
Isaac  was  ready  to  be  burned  on  the  altar,  because  God  had 
so  ordered ;  Hananiah,  IMishael,  and  Azariah  allowed  them- 
selves to  be  thrown  into  the  fire,  rather  than  worship  an 
idol;  and  Daniel  was  thrown  into  the  lions'  den,  because  he 
prayed  to  God ;  (2)  Moses  endured  the  greatest  hardships 
w^hile  ministering  to  the  needs  of  his  people,  yet  he  was 
denied  the  privilege  of  entering  the  Holy  Land  and  enjoying 
the  fruit  of  his  labors;  (3)  Elijah  procured  food  for  others 
(i  Kings,  17),  while  he  himself  had  to  starve  {ih.,  c.  19), 
and  Elisha  revived  the  dead,  but  died  himself ;  (4)  the 
Sodomites  were  utterly  destroyed  because  of  their  sins, 
while  other  peoples,  just  and  wicked  alike,  prosper;  (5)  the 
Israelites  were  exiled  because  of  idolatry,  other  nations 
worship  idols  and  remain  undisturbed;  (6)  innocent  chil- 
dren perished  in  the  flood  of  Noah,  and  likewise  in  the  battle 
against   the   Midianites   it   was   ordained   that  children  be 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  243 

killed  (Numbers,  31,  17).""'  All  this  makes  God  appear  as  a 
decidedly  arbitrary  and  unjust  ruler  of  the  world,  unless 
we  assume  that  a  proper  reward  is  meted  out  after  death. 

The  remaining  seven  proofs  are  based  on  numerous  Bible 
verses,  which,  according  to  the  author's  interpretation,  con- 
tain unmistakable  allusions  to  the  future  world.  All  these 
verses  are  arranged  according  to  their  contents  under  seven 
general  headings — e.  g.,  verses  describing  life  and  death,  or 
containing  promises  and  threats,  or  referring  to  records 
kept  in  heaven  of  the  deeds  of  men,  and  so  forth.  Each 
group  is  construed  as  a  proof  that  the  belief  in  the  world 
to  come  has  found  expression  in  the  Bible.  There  is  the 
great  difficulty  that  in  the  most  important  passages  of  the 
Bible  in  which  the  Israelites  are  admonished  to  obedience 
or  warned  against  sin,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  famous  Ex- 
hortations (Tokahot),  Leviticus,  33  and  Deuteronomy,  28, 
only  promises  of  material  happiness  are  held  out,  or  mis- 
fortunes of  a  physical  nature  announced.  The  reason  there- 
for, Saadia  explains,  is  twofold.  We  find,  in  the  first  place, 
that  the  Torah  never  expatiates  upon  things  that  are  self- 
evident.  The  belief  in  reward  and  punishment  after  death 
is,  as  we  have  seen,  demanded  by  reason.  If  men  sin,  it  is 
mostly  not  because  they  deny  the  existence  of  a  future 
world,  or  because  they  do  not  care  for  its  rewards,  or  are  not 
afraid  of  punishment  therein,  but  merely  because  of  weak- 
ness of  character.  In  order  to  restrain  them  from  sin,  it 
will  not  suffice  to  remind  them  of  the  hereafter.  That  is 
something  of  which  they  are  fully  conscious.  It  is  only  the 
promise  of  prosperity  or  the  threat  of  severe  punishment 
in  this  world  that  will  prove  effective.  Secondly,  it  was  the 
purpose  of  the  Bible,  as  a  book  intended  for  the  education 
of  the  people,  to  give  ample  directions  in  matters  that  con- 
cern the  immediate  present  or  the  near  future.  The  Biblical 
passages  referred  to  have  relation  to  the  time  when  the 
Israelites  were  about  to  conquer  the  Holy  Land.  It  was 
necessary  to   describe  in    full  detail  the  happy  conditions 

^^^  See  above,  notes  490",  511*. 


244  SAADIA  GAON 

which  would  obtain  in  the  promised  land  if  they  were  faith- 
ful to  the  laws  and  ordinances  of  God,  and  on  the  other  hand, 
to  warn  them  of  the  sure  failure  awaiting  them,  if  they  disre- 
garded these.  There  was  thus  no  need  at  that  time  to  refer 
in  any  way  to  what  was  going  to  happen  in  the  world  to  come. 
Such  things  are  briefly  alluded  to  in  various  passages  of  the 
Bible,  as  shown  before. 

As  to  the  proofs  from  traditional  literature,  Saadia  con- 
tinues, the  passages  are  too  many  to  quote  all  of  them.  Only 
five  passages  from  the  Talmud  and  two  from  the  Targum 
on  the  Pentateuch  are  adduced.  The  passages  occurring 
in  the  Targum  on  the  Prophets  are  likewise  too  numerous 
for  quotation.  The  existence  of  a  future  world  is  thus  es- 
tablished from  every  point  of  view. 

Over  two-thirds  of  the  entire  chapter  are  now  devoted  to 
the  discussion  of  ten  (actually  eleven)  ""^  eschatological 
questions,  nearly  all  of  which  had  been  briefly  considered  by 
the  author  at  the  end  of  the  seventh  chapter.  Here  each 
point  is  taken  up  in  a  different  arrangement  and  treated  at 
great  length.  Owing  to  the  latter  fact  Saadia's  presentation 
cannot  be  reproduced  here.  The  questions  at  issue  are: 
the  nature  of  reward  and  punishment  in  the  hereafter 
(counted  as  two)  ;  are  the  categories  time  and  space  applic- 
able to  the  future  world?  (also  counted  as  two)  ;  are  reward 
and  punishment  eternal,  or  only  for  a  certain  period,  accord- 
ing to  the  gravity  of  the  case?   (two)  ;   (7)   if  reward  and 

"^^^  The  Hebrew  text  (p.  134)  is  here  quite  corrupt,  and  the  order  of 
the  questions  much  confused  by  uninformed  commentators,  especially 
Dines  in  the  edition  used  here  by  us  (see  the  Bibliography,  p.  371, 
no.  5),  who,  however,  puts  the  responsibility  on  the  "printers  and 
copyists,  who  did  not  understand  the  text"  as  well  as  he.  Saadia, 
with  his  particular  habit  of  playing  with  numbers,  announces  the 
discussion  of  ten  questions,  but  de  facto  enumerates  thirteen,  of  which 
he  actually  discusses  eleven,  and  yet  by  an  uncommon  twist  of  logic 
insists  at  the  end  of  the  paragraph  {Am.,  p.  279,  1.  13,  Em.,  p.  142, 
1.  21)  that  he  had  dealt  with  "ten  only."  The  reason  for  this  insist- 
ence on  ten  is  that  the  questions  here  treated  are  to  be  equal  in 
number,  as  they  are  also  in  content,  to  those  treated  in  the  last 
portion  of  the  seventh  chapter  (above,  p.  236)  ;  comp.  notes  487,  528. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  245 

punishment  are  eternal  (Saadia's  actual  assumption),  how 
about  the  reward  and  punishment  for  a  single  act?  (8)  If, 
as  is  again  assumed  by  the  author,  the  rewards  and  punish- 
ments, even  for  single  meritorious  acts  or  single  reprehen- 
sible acts  are  to  last  eternally,  the  difiference  then  being  one 
of  degree  only,  what  about  the  great  variety  in  classes  that 
would  result  therefrom?  Are  all  the  righteous  and  all  the 
wicked  ranked  in  accordance  with  the  number  of  merits  or 
demerits  they  have  to  their  account?  (9)  Which  class  of  the 
wicked  has  to  expect  the  severest  punishment  ?  (10)  Will  the 
righteous  and  the  wicked  be  able  to  behold  one  another  in 
the  hereafter  ?  In  addition '"'  to  these  ten  points  the  author 
discusses  the  question  whether  the  righteous  will  continue 
to  be  under  obligation  to  worship  God  and  to  obey  certain 
laws.  Answering  in  the  affirmative,  he  refers  the  reader  to 
the  seventh  "'*  chapter,  where  he  stated  that  for  such  worship 
and  obedience  they  will  be  additionally  rewarded,  and  that 
the  righteous  of  the  world  to  come  will  never  sin.  As  to 
the  wicked,  being  in  a  state  of  sufifering  and  affliction,  they, 
Saadia  says,  will  not  be  put  under  any  obligation. 

With  a  few  exceptions  the  answers  to  the  foregoing 
eschatological  questions  are  all  based  on  very  numerous 
passages  from  Scripture,  to  which  a  Talmudic  passage  is 
occasionally  added  for  corroboration.  At  the  end  Saadia 
admits  that  to  attemipt  a  detailed  description  of  the  real 
nature  of  reward  and  punishment  would  be  presumptuous. 
The  world  to  come  must  needs  be  totally  different  from 
ours,  so  that  we  have  no  proper  standard  of  appreciation. 
Nor  is  it  desirable  that  we  should  know  exactly  the  reward 
and  punishment  of  a  certain  deed  or  misdeed.    This  v/ould 

^"  See  the  preceding  note. 

^"^ 'Amandt,  p.  228,  1.  9,  Steinschneider-F^^f^r/in"//^,  p.  iii,  Em., 
p.  116  (eighth  question).  Both  the  Arabic  (p.  279,  1.  10)  and  the 
Hebrew  text  (p.  142,  1.  18)  refer  to  the  "  end  of  the  eighth  chapter," 
which  is  a  mistake,  perhaps  of  Saadia  himself.  In  the  eighth  chapter 
(Am.,  p.  246,  1.  8;  Em.,  p.  125,  1.  9  from  below)  the  matter  is 
mentioned  incidentally  only,  and  it  is  not  at  the  end  of  the  chapter ; 
comp.  above,  note  487. 


246  SAADIA  GAON 

interfere  with  freedom  of  action.  We  may  hope,  however, 
that  in  the  Messianic  time,  intermediary  between  this  world 
and  the  world  to  come,  we  shall  be  enlightened  also  about 
the  latter. 

So  far  as  he  felt  justified  by  the  indications  contained  in 
certain  Scriptural  verses,  the  author  had  previously  at- 
tempted to  describe  the  nature  of  the  future  world.  Accord- 
ing to  these  verses,  as  interpreted  by  Saadia,  God,  at  the 
proper  time,  will  create  a  sublime  essence  which  will  fill  the 
world  with  magnificent  light  and  splendor.  On  the  souls  of 
the  righteous  this  light  will  have  the  most  beneficent  effect.  It 
will  imbue  them  with  the  knowledge  of  things  divine,  bringing 
them  nearer  to  the  presence  of  God  and  the  heavenly  hosts, 
and  making  them  participate  in  a  life  of  continuous  joy  and 
happiness.  On  the  wicked  it  will  have  the  opposite  effect, 
dazzling  and  burning  them  eternally.^''^^  These  two  effects 
are  symbolically  designated  in  traditional  literature  as  Gan 
Eden  (paradise)  and  Ge-Hinnom  (Gehenna,  hell),  because 
the  former  was  known  from  the  story  of  Adam  and  Eve  as 
a  place  of  pleasantness,  and  the  latter  is  mentioned  as  a 
place  of  abomination  (near  Jerusalem;  Jeremiah,  7,  32,  19, 
13).  There  wall  be  neither  time  (that  is,  division  into  days 
and  nights)  nor  space  (that  is,  heaven  and  earth)  nor  atmos- 
pheric air  in  the  world  to  come,  as  the  people,  though  con- 
sisting of  body  as  well  as  of  soul,  will  not  have  to  subsist 
on  material  food  and  will  not  need  to  breathe.  God  will  keep 
them  alive  by  that  fine  light-shedding  essence  which  he  is  to 
create.  We  find  the  same  exemplied  in  the  life  of  Moses,  who 
was  with  God  for  forty  days  and  nights  without  food, 
sustained  solely  by  the  divine  light  (Exodus,  34,  28-29). 

Saadia's  answers  to  most  of  the  other  eschatological  ques- 
tions have  been  indicated  above.  The  eighth  question  is 
answered  in  the  affirmative,  but  only  seven  different  degrees 
among  the  righteous  and  correspondingly  seven  among  the 

028a  jj^jg  entire  exposition,  for  which  Saadia  gives  no  source,  is 
based  on  the  passage  (Nedarim,  8&)  :  H'^nPH  «^X  n^HIV^  DJH^a  i^« 

comp.  Theodor,  Bereschit  Rabha,  Berlin,  1912,  p.  46,  n.  5. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  247 

wicked,  are  described  by  tlie  author,  as  he  finds  them  sug- 
gested in  Bible  verses.  By  way  of  answering  the  ninth  ques- 
tion, he  points  to  the  atheists  and  polytheists  and  the  per- 
petrators of  grave  rehgious  sins  unrepentant  at  death.  The 
righteous  and  the  wicked  will  see  one  another  (tenth  ques- 
tion) from  a  distance;  the  former,  among  themselves,  how- 
ever, will  meet  only  when  they  happen  to  be  of  equal  or  not 
greatly  different  rank,  while  among  the  latter,  occupied  as 
they  will  be  with  expiation  for  their  sins,  no  association,  the 
author  conjectures,  will  be  possible. 

Saadia's  philosophic  system  is  here  brought  to  a  close. 
As  a  summary  of  his  eschatological  views  a  few  of  the 
leading  thoughts  may  be  restated.  Soul  and  body  are  a  unit. 
The  soul  is  created  at  the  moment  the  body  is  completed  and 
takes  its  seat  in  the  heart.  Death  separates  the  two.  They 
remain  in  separation  until  the  Messianic  time.  At  that  time 
the  bodies  will  be  resurrected  and  will  reunite  with  their  souls. 
Resurrection  is  restricted  to  the  pious  ones  in  Israel  as  a 
special  reward  for  their  sufferings ;  the  wicked  of  Israel,  as 
well  as  the  dead  of  other  nations  will  not  rise  from  the  graves. 
Their  souls  and  bodies  will  remain  separated  until  the  Mes- 
sianic period,  lasting  many  generations,  is  over.  At  the 
close  of  the  Messianic  period  the  present  world  will  be 
destroyed  and  a  new  eternal  world  created.  This  will  be 
the  world  of  final  judgment.  In  it  the  wicked  of  Israel,  who 
did  not  see  the  Messianic  time,  as  well  as  the  dead  of  all 
nations  will  come  to  life  again,  though  under  a  different,  as 
yet  not  fully  intelligible  system.  The  righteous  of  Israel, 
who  lived  through  the  Messianic  period  will  be  transferred 
bodily  to  that  world.  The  righteous  of  all  other  nations  will 
also  have  their  share  in  the  reward  of  the  eternal  world  to 
come. 

(X)  The  last  chapter  of  the  'AmCindt,  "About  That  which 
is  the  Best  for  Man  to  do  in  this  World,"  is  not  a  continuation 
of  the  thoughts  developed  in  the  chapters  preceding  it;  nor 
does  it  in  any  other  way  fit  into  the  general  plan  of  the  work 
before  us.  It  has  been  suggested  that  the  work  was  written 
originally  in  separate  essays  under  special  titles,  with  a  view 


248  SAADIA  GAON 

of  later  combining  and  arranging  them  so  as  to  form  a  syste- 
matic whole. "^^  The  present  essay,  dealing  with  ethics,  is 
related  in  content  to  chapters  4  and  5  which  deal  with  the 
principal  ethical  problems  as  part  of  the  system  of  the  Jew- 
ish religion.  The  great  latitude  indulged  in  by  the  author 
in  treating  the  subject  of  this  essay  made  its  inclusion  in  the 
body  of  the  book  appear  inexpedient.  It  was  therefore 
appended  here  with  the  avowed  intention  of  giving  to  the 
reader  some  practical  advice  as  to  the  course  he  should 
choose  in  order  to  be  able  to  live  in  conformity  with  the 
religious  doctrines  laid  down  in  the  work.^" 

As  is  the  author's  wont,  he  opens  the  chapter  with  a  few 
general  remarks  leading  to  the  subject  under  consideration, 
in  which  he  first  points  out  that  plurality  and  variety  are 
the  very  nature  of  all  created  beings,  just  as  absolute  unity 
is  an  essential  attribute  of  the  Creator.  All  the  units  we  see 
in  nature  are  only  apparently  such.  Upon  closer  examina- 
tion we  realize  that  what  appears  to  our  eyes  as  a  unit  is 
merely  an  aggregate  of  a  multitude  of  smaller  composites, 
constituting  a  body,  an  organism.     So  it  is  in  the  whole  of 

^  See  above,  note  456. 

^^  Landauer's  contention  (Introduction,  p.  xx),  that  this  chapter 
was  not  considered  at  all  in  the  original  plan  of  Saadia,  and  did  not 
belong  to  the  book,  is  disputed  by  Schreiner  (REJ.,  XXII,  70)  on 
the  basis  of  a  passage  which  is  quoted  by  Moses  Ibn  Ezra  (Kitdb  al- 
Muhadarah)  as  occurring  in  chapter  nine  of  the  'Amdndt,  but  is 
found  in  the  present  chapter  ten.  Schreiner  therefore  suggests  that 
it  was  the  seventh  chapter  (on  resurrection)  that  was  originally 
excluded  from  the  plan  of  the  book.  This  is  not  at  all  conclusive, 
as  in  the  time  of  Moses  Ibn  Ezra  (12th  century)  there  may  have 
existed  copies  of  the  'Amdndt  in  which  the  seventh  chapter  (in  the 
so-called  second  recension)  formed  a  separate  part,  or  was  not  in- 
cluded at  all;  comp.  Bacher  in  the  SteinschnQider-F estschrift,  (Ger- 
man part),  pp.  219-226.  We  must  also  reckon  with  the  possibility  of  a 
mistake  in  the  text  of  Ibn  Ezra.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  safe  to  assume 
that  both  the  seventh  and  the  tenth  chapters  belonged  to  the  original 
plan  of  the  author,  as  is  evidenced  also  by  the  table  of  contents  at 
the  end  of  the  Introduction,  and  by  a  passage  in  chapter  V  of  the 
work  (p.  179,  top,  Em.,  p.  89)  ;  comp.  Guttmann,  p.  258,  n.  i. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  249 

organic  and  inorganic  nature  and  even  in  the  superlunary 
world,  for  the  heavenly  bodies,  too,  are  composed  of  various 
parts. 

Precisely  the  same  is  true  as  regards  our  moral  and  intel- 
lectual world.  Our  entire  thinking  apparatus  and  our 
physical  instinct  are  not  units  tending  and  working  in  one 
direction  only.  Each  is  a  combination  of  multifarious 
thoughts,  or  tendencies,  or  inclinations,  making  up  our  diver- 
sified psychic  world.  As  a  tree  would  not  be  a  tree  by 
reason  of  its  leaves  alone,  man  would  not  be  what  he  is,  if 
he  consisted  only  of  one  or  the  other  of  his  components, 
and  as  the  heavens  do  not  shed  their  light  through  one  star 
only,  so  a  single  instinct  would  not  afford  us  the  full  variety 
of  hurnan  Hfe.  Even  in  the  sphere  of  human  activities  we 
must,  for  all  purposes,  make  use  of  a  combination  of  things. 
In  building,  manufacturing,  and  preparation  of  food  for 
our  sustenance,  we  must  select  our  material  from  various 
quarters,  in  order  to  assure  success. 

By  overlooking  this  truth  most  people  go  morally  wrong. 
Contrary  to  the  lessons  of  nature  they  bind  themselves  to 
one  theory  of  life  or  follow  a  particular  inclination  to  the 
neglect  or  exclusion  of  all  others,  with  the  result  that  they 
defeat  their  own  purpose  and  go  to  wrack  and  ruin  even 
physically.  From  among  the  many  methods  of  living  ad- 
hered to  by  the  majority  of  people,  the  author  selects  thirteen 
for  careful  consideration,  in  order  to  exemplify  to  the  reader 
the  moral  and  material  dangers  that  lurk  behind  each  one, 
if  pursued  exclusively.  A  cursory  perusal  of  these  thirteen 
doctrines  of  life  as  presented  by  the  author,  makes  it  at  once 
doubtful  whether  they  had  all  come  to  his  knowledge  from 
personal  observation.  Some  of  them,  as  vve  shall  see,  are  of 
such  a  nature  that  while  they  may  at  all  times  find  here  and 
there  an  individual  advocate,  they  would  hardly  ever  or  any- 
where become  the  common  view  of  a  larger,  organized  sec- 
tion of  a  people,  and  thus  deserve  to  be  raised  to  the  dignity 
of  a  doctrine,  as  is  here  proposed  by  the  author.  Doubtless, 
Saadia  has  here  again  fallen  under  the  spell  of  his  peculiar 


250  SAADIA  GAON 

fondness  for  numbers.^^  A  brief  reproduction  of  these  doc- 
trines under  their  respective  headings  will  suffice  to  make  this 
clear. 

(i)  The  doctrine  of  the  hermits,  who  teach  that  the  best 
course  for  a  man  to  pursue  is  to  turn  his  back  on  the  world, 
isolate  himself  in  the  mountains,  and  weep  and  mourn  over 
the  misery  of  human  life.  They  repudiate  marriage  and  all 
pleasures  of  life,  and  subsist  on  whatever  they  happen  to  find 
near  them,  until  they  are  relieved  by  death  of  their  wretched 
existence. 

(2)  The  doctrine  of  sots  and  gluttons,  who  hold  that  good 
eating  and  drinking  is  the  highest  purpose  in  life.  With  the 
greatest  enthusiasm  they  picture  the  wonderful  feeling  after 
a  rich  meal  and  the  cheerful  effect  produced  by  wine.  All 
human  enterprise,  they  say,  has  as  its  sole  purpose  the 
gratification  of  the  stomach,  all  friendships  and  social  en- 
joyments are  based  on  conviviality.  Saadia  is  equally  ex- 
travagant in  depicting  the  opposite  effects  of  this  epicurism. 

(3)  The  doctrine  of  the  voluptuaries,  who  aver  that  the 
gratification  of  sexual  desire  is  the  highest  aim  one  should 
strive  after.  "  Sexual  intercourse,"  they  assert,  "  is  the  con- 
summation of  human  happiness,  it  cheers  the  soul,  drives 
away  all  worry  and  melancholy,  and,  what  is  more,  it  main- 
tains all  existence.'*  Saadia  opposes  this  doctrine  most  em- 
phatically, showing  the  sad  results  of  excessive  sexuality. 

(4)  The  doctrine  of  lovers.^''  Love  is  the  most  exalted 
feeling  a  human  being  is  capable  of.     To  experience  love 

^  See  above,  notes  473,  526,  Guttmann,  p.  263,  n.  2.  For  some  of  the 
theories  various  parallels  were  adduced  by  Guttmann  from  Greek 
and  other  sources. 

^^  For  this  doctrine  see  in  particular  Guttmann,  269-273,  who  quotes 
the  parallels  from  Plato.  So  far  as  I  know,  it  has  never  been  noticed 
that  what  is  here  reported  by  Saadia  is  found  in  the  Apophthegms 
of  the  famous  translator  of  Greek  works,  Honein  b.  'Ishak  (died  873), 
which  were  translated  from  Arabic  into  Hebrew  by  Judah  al-Harizi 
(comp.  Steinschneider,  Hehrdische  Uebersetzungen,  pp.  348  ff.).  The 
Hebrew  translation  was  edited  by  A.  Loewenthal,  under  the  title 
D^21D1^''an  nOID,  Frankfurt  a/M.,  1896.  Thus,  on  p.  25,  no.  43,  the 
theory  that  love  is  due  to  the  influence  of   the  stars  is  presented  with 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  251 

should  therefore  be  one's  highest  pursuit  in  life.  "  Love 
ennobles  the  mind,  purifies  the  character,  and  transports  the 
soul  with  joy."  The  followers  of  this  view  further  theorize 
that  "  love  is  an  extremely  delicate  substance  produced  by 
nature  and  infused  into  the  human  heart,  originally  through 
an  incidental  coup  d'oeil  and,  once  there,  it  assumes  the 
aspect  of  a  feeling  of  hope  and  desire.  Through  this  feeling 
the  substance  becomes  firmly  rooted  in  the  heart,  then  other 
elements  (sexual  passion)  are  added  to  the  original  sub- 
stance, which  make  it  endure.  They  even  declare  that  love 
is  due  to  the  influences  of  the  stars  :  If  two  people  were  born 
in  the  ascendant  of  two  stars  facing  each  other  in  full  or  in 
part  and  both  standing  under  the  influence  of  one  zodiacal 
sign,  the  two  persons  will  attract  one  another  on  sight. 
They  go  still  further  and  assert  that  love  is  a  divine  institu- 
tion. The  souls,  so  runs  their  theory,  were  created  in  the 
form  of  globes,  each  globe  consisting  of  two  souls.  Then 
the  globes  w^ere  divided  into  two  equal  halves  and  each  half 
placed  in  some  human  being.  When  a  person  possessing  the 
one  half  of  a  certain  globe  happens  to  meet  the  person  who 
possess  the  other  half  of  that  globe,  the  two  feel  irresistibly 
drawn  toward  one  another  by  love.  Finally  they  venture 
to  ascribe  to  love  a  religious  significance,  contending  that 
God  affected  men  with  this  powerful  passion  in  order  to 
make  them  suffer  humiliations  and  thus  learn  to  be  humble 
and  to  submit  to  His  will." 

Saadia  argues  against  this  panegyric  of  love  with  excep- 
tional vehemence,  and  even  excuses  himself  for  discussing 

full  detail  in  the  name  of  Plato,  while  on  p.  38,  no,  64,  the  theory  of 
the  "globes"  is  given  in  the  name  of  Ptolemy  (DI^D^DD,  which  is 
a  mistake  for  ptD^QN,  see  Steinschneider,  I.  c,  p.  353,  n.  687)  ;  comp. 
also  p.  36,  no.  9,  another  theory  in  the  name  of  Galen.  Honein  is 
probably  the  source  of  Saadia.  This  is  strongly  supported  by  the  fact 
that  the  description  of  the  origin  of  love  (a  substance  sunk  into  the 
heart)  and  of  its  bad  effects  (melancholia  and  coma),  especially 
the  latter,  are  found  in  the  Apopthegms  of  Honein  (p.  35,  no.  10) 
almost  verbally,  under  the  heading  tDX1p1Q"'fc<  [^]1D1D,  "moral 
sentences  of  Hippocrates."  Honein  was  the  source  also  of  Johanan 
Alemano,  Pt^HH  IVl^,  ed.  Halberstadt,  1862,  fol  29a. 


252  SAADIA  GAON 

so  base  a  conception  of  life.  The  reason  for  his  particular 
objection  to  the  love-doctrine  is  that,  as  becomes  apparent 
from  some  of  his  arguments,  its  eulogizers,  as  he  knew  them 
from  Greek  sources  through  the  medium  of  Arabic,  did  not 
confine  their  praise  to  love  between  different  sexes,  but 
included  the  abomination  of  sodomy."^ 

(5)  The  doctrine  of  materialists,  who  advocate  the  accu- 
mulation of  wealth.  "  They  insist  that  the  only  proper  course 
for  man  to  take  is  the  pursuit  of  money.  They  base  their  er- 
roneous "*  view  on  the  fact  that  all  the  pleasures  and  neces- 
sities of  life  can  be  obtained  only  with  money,  that  all  business 
transactions,  government  affairs,  social  relations,  matrimony, 
and  so  forth  center  around  it."  In  opposition  thereto, 
Saadia  describes  the  great  evils  resulting  from  the  hunt  after 
money :  The  nervous  strain  and  restlessness,  the  deterioration 
of  the  moral  character  through  the  oppression  of  the  weaker, 
the  utter  disregard  of  truth  and  honesty ,^^^  and  the  like.  Nor 
should  the  dangers  attending  the  possession  of  wealth 
be  overlooked.  Wealth  arouses  the  envy  of  the  poor  and 
invites  maltreatment  and  extortion  by  the  mighty.  Finally, 
its  possession  is  never  assured  ;  often  it  happens  that  a  degen- 
erate son  throws  to  the  wind  the  ill-gotten  fortune  of  his 
father. 

(6)  The  doctrine  of  those  who  see  the  greatest  human 
happiness  in  the  possession  of  children.  "  Children  are  the 
joy  and  the  delight  of  their  parents,  the  only  object  of  one's 
sincere  love  and  affection,  a  treasure  and  comfort  in  old 

^  See  Guttmann,  p.  269.  This  is  also  evident  from  Saadia's  argu- 
ment, that  "  if  love  had  the  origin  they  claim  for  it,  we  should  never 
find  that  Zaid  would  love  'Amr  without  'Amr's  reciprocating  his 
love  "  {'Am.  p.  269, 1.  3;  in  Em.,  p.  150,  the  names  Reuben  and  Simeon 
are  substituted,  as  usual,  for  Zaid  and  Amr). 

"*  For  DD^tJ^ni,  in  the  Hebrew  text  (p.  151)  readD-I^^HI  (hif'il  of 
n^tJ^),  to  delude,  mislead,  not  lyDHI,  as  proposed  by  Guttmann, 
p.  273,  n.  3. 

'""The  Hebrew  text  (p.  152,  1.  6)  has  here  nny*l^n  ninyn,  which 
means  "breaking  of  promises."  Guttmann  read  the  latter  word  as 
plural  of  "lyi^,  festival,  and  translated  accordingly  {Ubertretung 
der  religiosen  ....  Gebote). 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  25,^ 

age,  the  only  ones  who  remember  us  in  love  when  we  are 
dead."  Saadia  shows  the  other  side  of  the  medal.  He  points 
to  the  great  difficulties  in  supplying  children's  needs  and  in 
giving  them  proper  education,  without  which,  he  says,  they 
are  no  blessing;  recalls  the  dangers  of  disease  and  death, 
and  of  the  disgrace  that  depraved  sons  or  wayward  daughters 
may  bring  upon  their  parents ;  and  concludes  with  the  cita- 
tion of  a  passage  from  the  Book  of  Sirach,*"^  which  relates 
to  the  latter  point. 

(7)  The  doctrine  of  those  who  maintain  that  one's  sole 
occupation  in  life  should  be  making  the  earth  habitable  (DItJ''' 
D^iyn),  especially  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  because  all  life 
depends  upon  the  produce  of  mother  earth.  Besides,  occu- 
pation with  building  and  agriculture  invigorates  mind  and 
body,  induces  thrift  and  procures  prosperity.  Saadia  admits 
in  general  the  importance  of  agriculture,  but  ridicules  the  idea 
that  occupation  therewith  should  be  considered  the  sole 
source  of  human  happiness. 

(8)  The  doctrine  of  longemty.  "  The  adherents  of  this 
doctrine  claim  that  man's  greatest  care  in  this  world  should 
be  the  prolongation  of  his  life,  for  through  it  he  can  accom- 
plish all  he  desires  in  religious  as  well  as  in  worldly  matters. 
In  order  to  attain  long  life,  they  advise,  one  should  indulge 
in  the  pleasures  of  life  with  great  moderation,  always  en- 
deavor to  keep  up  good  spirits,  and  under  all  circumstances 
avoid  dangerous  situations."  Saadia,  in  the  first  place,  de- 
nies that  longevity  can  be  assured  by  following  out  the  advice 
given.  "  We  find  that  many  people  who  live  according 
to  this  prescription,  die  a  premature  death,  while  others 
who  disregard  it,  reach  a  high  age.  Often  people  of  strong 
physique  die  suddenly,  while  others  of  a  delicate  constitu- 
tion live  long."  Moreover,  it  is  not  true  that  Hfe,  as  such, 
is  the  highest  good.  He  points  to  the  innumerable  and  un- 
avoidable troubles  of  life  in  its  various  stages,  particularly 
to  the  infirmities  of  old  age,  and  contends  that  this  life 
should  only  be  regarded  as  a  preparation  for  life  in  the  world 
eternal. 

'^  See  above,  note  463. 


254  SAADIA  GAON 

(9)  The  doctrine  of  those  who  consider  the  acquisition 
of  power  and  dominion  as  the  foremost  object  in  Hfe. 
"  They  say  that  the  ambition  for  the  possession  of  greatness 
is  a  natural  instinct,  that  the  human  mind  resents  humiliation 
and  submission  to  others,  that  the  consciousness  of  power 
cheers  "^  the  soul,  raises  the  spirits,  encourages  enterprise, 
and  widens  the  sphere  of  activity,  and  that  without  power 
and  authority  there  would  be  no  civilization."  Saadia  very 
pointedly  remarks  that  these  advocates  of  power  knowingly 
suppress  the  real  truth  in  the  matter.  Order  and  civilization 
are  not  effected  by  power  and  authority  as  such,  but  by  the 
wisdom  and  foresight  with  which  these  are  exercised.  Au- 
thority based  on  power  alone  is  a  misfortune  to  the  world 
and  in  the  end  also  to  the  one  who  possesses  it.  A  powerful 
but  unwise  individual  will  interfere  with  all  human  activities, 
and  will  arrogate  to  himself  final  authority  on  art  and  science, 
politics  and  religion.  Should  he  succeed  in  usurping  the 
government,  he  will  turn  everybody  into  an  enemy,  so  that  he 
will  have  to  take  even  his  meals  under  guard,  "  live  as  under 
the  edge  of  a  sword,  as  if  his  entire  existence  hung  upon  a 
hair." 

(10)  The  doctrine  of  vengeance.  "Its  adherents  praise 
the  practice  of  vengeance  as  the  most  desirable  occupation 
in  life,  because  it  frees  the  soul  from  worry,  relieves  mental 
strain,  disposes  of  the  necessity  of  constant  scheming  and 
plotting  against  the  adversary,  fills  the  avenger  with  satis- 
faction, and  serves  as  a  warning  to  other  enemies."  It  is 
only  natural  that  Saadia  should  strongly  object  to  so  unholy 
a  view.  For  religious  reasons  and  on  general  grounds,  he 
denies  that  taking  revenge  ever  gives  lasting  satisfaction. 
We  may  at  times  experience  such  feeling  when  our  enemy 
falls  through  his  own  wrongdoings,  but  not  when  we  have 
caused  him  to  fall. 

'"  Thus  the  Arabic  text  (p.  305, 1.  12  :  ^riTDn)  ;  Ibn  Tibbon  (p.  154, 
line  6  from  below)  has  DPTIlD,  strengthens.  He  must  therefore  have 
read  {^HTK^n,  or  fe^mTCTl.  The  text  of  the  second  Arabic  recension, 
followed  by  Ibn  Tibbon,  is  here  missing. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  255 

(11)  The  doctrine  of  scholars.  "Some  scholars  believe 
that  man's  only  occupation  in  this  world  should  be  study  and 
research,  for  through  it  he  vv^ill  arrive  at  the  knowledge  of 
everything  on  earth,  as  the  elements  of  nature  and  their  com- 
positions, and  of  much  '^^  that  is  in  heaven,  as  the  stars  and  the 
spheres.  Besides,  knowledge  has  its  special  charms,  gladden- 
ing the  soul  and,  like  medicine,  curing  it  of  ignorance. 
Knowledge  is  the  spiritual  food  of  the  soul  and  an  ornamenf" ^ 
to  man,  as  jewels  are  to  kings,  and  he  who  does  not  strive 
after  it  nor  appreciate  it,  is  not  to  be  accounted  fully  a  human 
being."  Our  author  recognizes  the  elements  of  truth  con- 
tained in  this  view,  but  opposes  its  exclusiveness  and  one- 
sidedness.  Exclusive  devotion  to  learning  brings  poverty  and 
destitution,  and  thus  makes  the  scholar  dependent  upon  the 
good  will  of  others.  A  poor  scholar  is  despised,  his  opinion 
is  neither  sought  nor  relied  upon,  his  learning,  consequently, 
worthless.  Should  he  try  to  maintain  his  independence 
and  subsist  on  dry  bread  and  the  hke,  he  will  find  that  his 
learning  deteriorates,  for  poor  living  is  harmful  to  the  mind. 
Moreover,  the  world  cannot  exist  by  the  study  of  the  sciences 
alone,  without  any  practical  occupation.  The  devotees  of 
the  scholarly  view  defeat  their  own  purpose.  Nor  is  it 
proper  to  advocate  the  study  of  the  sciences""  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  the  study  of  law  and  religion,  for  the  knowledge 

°^*The  Hebrew  text  has  in  all  editions  Nllin,  for  which  must  be 

read  nmn. 

"^Here  again  all  Hebrew  editions  have  either  1J"'t?1,  or  1-D''yi, 
which  makes  no  sense.  Read:  IJVT'l,  which  in  the  sense  of  ornament 
is  used  only  in  Arabic.  Saadia  quotes  here  Proverbs,  i.  9.  In  his 
Commentary  on  Proverbs  ad  locum  (p.  16,  top)  he  indeed  says: 
INDJX^N  pt  XOn  fc^y^O:!  m^XI  D^y^X,  "learning  and  piety  com- 
bined are  the  ornament  of  man." 

""This  is  the  meaning  of  Ibn  Tibbon's  Hl^V^n  DDDn,  i.  e., 
"  science  of  nature,"  or  natural  science,  not  as  Guttmann,  p.  280 
(comp.  p.  281,  n.  i),  translates:  speculative  Wissenschaft.  Saadia 
speaks  here  of  physics,  not  of  metaphysics ;  for  details  see  Malter, 
"  Mediaeval  Hebrew  Terms  for  Nature,"  in  the  Hermann  Cohen- 
Fcstschrift   (Judaica),  pp.  253  ff. 


256  SAADIA  GAON 

of  the  sciences  "^  is  intended  only  as  a  means  towards  a  better 
understanding  of  religious  duties. 

(12)  The  doctrine  of  penance.  "There  are  many  who 
proclaim  that  the  best  thing  for  a  man  to  do  is  to  devote  him- 
self solely  to  the  worship  of  God.  He  should  fast  during  the 
day  and  spend  the  nights  in  prayer  and  praise  of  God. 
He  should  relinquish  all  worldly  occupations  and  leave  it  to 
God  to  provide  him  with  all  the  necessaries  of  life.  The 
worship  of  God  affords  us  the  greatest  pleasure,  thrills 
us  with  joy  and  rapture,  and,  besides,  assures  us  of  the 
reward  of  the  world  to  come."  Saadia  here  has  the  Chris- 
tian monks  in  mind,  and  refutes  their  theory  of  life  on  the 
ground  that  a  life  of  penance  counteracts  the  purpose  of 
God  in  creating  the  world.  Mankind  needs  but  to  indulge 
in  such  practices  for  a  single  generation,  and  there  would 
be  no  other  generation  to  take  its  place,  as  we  should  all  die 
of  inanity,  childless,  and  thus  penance  itself  would  exist  no 
more.  The  laws  and  ordinances  of  any  religion  have  a 
meaning  only  in  connection  with  human  activities.  If  we 
renounce  life  altogether  for  the  sake  of  doing  penance,  we 
have  no  chance  whatever  to  obey  or  disobey  any  of  the 
religious  precepts.  What,  then,  is  the  object  of  doing 
penance?  Its  advocates  might  say  that  they  would  encour- 
age others  to  attend  to  the  practical  needs  of  the  world, 
while  they  would  cling  to  their  method  of  living ;  but  then  it 
is  the  others  who  are  the  real  servants  of  God  in  carrying 
out  His  will,  not  they  who  persist  in  doing  nothing.  As  to 
their  reliance  on  God,  that  He  will  supply  them  with  a  liveli- 
hood, they  might  better  rely  on  Him  to  provide  them  with 
the  desired  reward  in  the  world  to  come  without  their  in- 
cessant prayers  for  it. 

(13)  The  doctrine  of  idleness,  "Some  teach  that  rest 
and  inactivity  is  the  best  conduct  in  life,  for  it  gives  com- 
posure and  serenity  to  the  soul,  furthers  digestion,  pro- 
motes the  growth  of  the  body,  and  strengthens  the  senses. 

""The  editions  have  D^Wn  (finnX).  According  to  the  Arabic  text 
we  should  expect  D^T  (DDriiO,  the  latter  word  referring  back  to 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  257 

In  all  his  toil  and  labor  man  looks  forward  with  eagerness 
to  the  pleasure  of  rest  which  is  to  follow."  "  I  find,"  says 
Saadia,  "  that  these  people  are  the  most  ignorant  of  all,  and 
misunderstand  their  own  words.  The  very  idea  of  rest 
presupposes  work  and  activity.  Rest  that  is  not  preceded 
by  work  is  a  mere  word.  In  reality  such  rest  means  sluggish- 
ness and  indolence,  and  these  lead  to  poverty  and  physical 
misery."  Saadia  enumerates  ten  special  diseases  caused  by 
laziness,  which  might  be  interesting  for  the  history  of  medi- 
cine, among  them  hernia,  tumors,  podagra,  nephritis,  and 
elephantiasis.  Even  those,  he  adds,  whose  needs  are  pro- 
vided by  others  should  not  sit  idle,  but  should  work  for  the 
sake  of  work. 

As  said  before,  not  all  the  theories  here  described  were 
actually  in  vogue  among  the  people  of  Saadia's  acquaintance. 
In  his  desire  to  carry  his  point  against  all  bias  and  narrow- 
mindedness  in  the  conception  of  life,  he  selected  for  criticism 
a  number  of  ideas  found  in  the  works  of  individual  Greek 
and  Muhammedan  authors,  who  expressed  themselves  in 
favor  of  the  one  or  the  other,  either  incidentally  or  in  ex- 
pounding their  systems  of  life.  He  labored  the  point  that 
whether  a  particular  course  in  life  be  vicious  or  virtuous, 
dogmatic  and  onesided  adherence  to  it  is  bound  to  lead  to 
failure;  for  in  all  walks  of  life  it  is  prejudiced  onesidedness 
that  works  moral  and  material  injury.  Saadia  advises  that 
man  live  in  accordance  with  the  requirements  of  his  natural 
inclinations  and  propensities,  but  keep  them  under  strict 
control.  One  must  beware  of  exaggerations  and  excesses, 
carrying  out  all  functions  of  life  at  the  proper  time  and  in 
the  proper  place,  refraining  therefrom  when  reason  or 
religion  so  demands.""*    Among  the  thirteen  tendencies  dis- 

'*^^  The  underlying  idea  of  Saadia's  disquisition  is  the  famous 
Aristotelian  doctrine  of  the  Golden  Mean.  Saadia  is  thus  the  first 
mediaeval  Jewish  thinker  who  utilized  this  doctrine  for  Jew- 
ish Ethics.  He  was  followed  by  a  host  of  others,  particularly 
Maimonides,  who  has  treated  the  subject  in  all  its  aspects.  For  fur- 
ther details  see  Malter,  Shem  Tob  Palquera,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  I  (1910- 
1911),  pp.  160,  n.  15;"  484,  n.  88;  Gorfinkle,  the  Eight  Chapters  of 

17 


2s8  SAADIA  GAON 

cussed,  he  designates  those  to  despotism,  vengeance,  and  in- 
dolence as  absolutely  immoral,  and  therefore  entirely  to  be 
avoided.  He  compares  his  method  with  that  of  the  physician 
who  prescribes  medicine  composed  of  various  ingredients  in 
unequal  parts  according  to  the  needs  of  the  case,  but  ex- 
cludes therefrom  whatever  he  thinks  to  be  positively 
injurious  to  the  patient. 

We  might  expect  the  foregoing  remarks  to  be  the  end  of 
the  disquisition  on  the  subject.  The  matter  would  seem  to 
have  been  viewed  from  all  sides,  leaving  nothing  essential 
to  be  added.  The  author  realizes  this,  but,  he  says,  he  deems 
it  fit  at  the  close  of  the  chapter  "  to  add  gratuitously  "  a 
special  paragraph  in  which  he  purposes  to  show  that  in  the 
realm  of  nature,  also,  it  is  mixture  and  composition  that 
produces  the  highest  and  most  pleasing  efifects.  This,  he  con- 
tinues, will  serve  as  an  illustration  of  what  was  said  above 
regarding  our  moral  world  and  the  necessity  of  employing 
jointly  all  our  natural  instincts  and  intellectual  endowments 
in  order  to  make  life  complete.  He  selects  for  this  illustration 
the  impressions  made  by  the  objects  of  nature  on  the  senses  of 
sight,  hearing,  and  smell,  leaving  out  the  sense  of  taste, 
because  too  obvious,  and  that  of  touch,  because,  according 
to  some  ancient  theory  of  physiology,  it  responds  with 
pleasure  only  to  a  single  quality,  that  of  softness."^  As  to 
the  sense  of  sight,  we  know  that  any  elementary,  unmixed 
color,  as  white,  red,  yellow,  or  black,  is  hard  on  the  eyes,  if 
they  are  persistently  fixed  upon  it  for  some  time.  Besides, 
these  colors  do  not  produce  any  cheering  eflfect  on  the  soul. 
Only  when  they  are  mixed  with  others,  the  composition  may 

Maimonides,  New  York,  1912,  pp.  54  ff. ;  Guttmann,  in  Isr.  Levvy's 
Festschrift,  pp.  S2t,  f.  (Moses  ben  Mahnon,  II,  213)  ;  comp.  above, 
note  399.  As  to  the  popularity  of  the  doctrine  among  Muhammedan 
writers  see  Goldziher,  MuJwmmedamsche  Stiidien,  II,  398. 

'^'A  contrary  view  regarding  the  sense  of  touch  is  held  by  Abra- 
ham Ibn  Daiid ;  comp.  Guttmann,  Die  Religionsphilosophie  des 
Abraham  Ibn  Daud,  p.  82.  For  details  see  Kaufmann,  Die  Sinne, 
Leipzig,  1884,  pp.  172  ff. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  259 

in  various  ways  be  soothing  to  the  eye  and  stimulate  the 
different  faculties  of  the  soul  to  action/"''^ 

Saadia  proceeds  to  describe  the  different  effects  certain 
combinations  of  colors  have  on  the  soul,  the  one  producing 
vigor  and  strength,  the  other  sadness  and  melancholy,  and 
the  like.  The  same  holds  true  with  regard  to  the  sense  of 
hearing.  A  single  sound  or  tone  has  only  one  effect,  and 
this  one  often  unpleasant.  Only  the  concord  of  different 
notes  is  capable  of  producing  harmony  and  sweetness.  Here 
again  Saadia  enters  upon  a  detailed  description  of  the  eight 
fundamental  musical  tones  and  their  intervals,  or  semitones, 
and  defines  the  effect  of  certain  musical  compositions  on 
soul  and  character.  Finally,  the  sense  of  smell  is  taken  up, 
and  treated  in  a  similar  way,  and  he  shows  that  in  odors,  too, 
the  best  results  are  achieved  by  combinations.^*"^ 

If,  as  we  have  seen — so  Saadia  concludes — even  in  the 
physical  world  it  is  only  through  a  proper  distribution  and 
co-ordination  of  forces  that  w^e  arrive  at  the  highest  pos- 
sible good,  how  much  more  is  it  desirable  that  we  should 
follow  the  same  method  in  our  moral  and  religious  conduct, 
for  it  is  only  through  achievement  of  inner  harmony  and 
equilibrium  that  we  can  attain  to  a  perfectly  sound  and 
godly  life. 

^^' "  Red  combined  with  yellow,"  Saadia  says,  "  stimulates  the 
choleric  humor  and  its  properties ;  the  soul  then  manifests  energy 
and  vigor.  Yellow  mixed  with  black  makes  the  phlegmatic  humor 
predominate,  producing  in  the  soul  a  state  of  dejection.  A  combina- 
tion of  black,  red,  yellow,  and  white  sets  into  action  the  sanguine 
humor ;  the  soul  then  manifests  a  will  to  power  and  dominion. 
Finally,  a  combination  of  green  and  yellow  stirs  up  the  black  humor 
(melancholia),  producing  in  the  soul  timidity  and  sadness.  In 
like  manner  the  increase  or  diminution  of  each  of  the  ingredients 
in  the  mixture  of  colors  brings  about  a  corresponding  change  in 
psychic  qualities." 

""  The  text  of  this  entire  paragraph,  particularly  the  portion  dealing 
with  music,  offers  great  difficulties,  which  I  have  endeavored  to 
explain  in  my  forthcoming  edition  of  the  Emunot;  comp.  Guttmann, 
pp.  285-289 ;  Ackermann,  in  Winter  and  Wtinche's  Die  jiidische 
Litteratur,  III,  500;  below.  Bibliography,  p.  369. 


26o  SAADIA  GAON 

In  accordance  with  his  usual  method  Saadia  quotes 
numerous  verses  from  the  Bible,  particularly  from  the  Book 
of  Ecclesiastes,  and  interprets  them  to  make  them  bear  out 
his  ethical  theories.  Several  of  these  verses  serve  him  as 
a  basis  for  the  commendation  of  certain  good  habits  and 
qualities  which  one  should  try  to  acquire,  among  them  the 
effort  to  leave  a  good  name  to  posterity,  mindfulness  of 
human  frailty,  zeal  for  the  honor  of  God,  patience  and  en- 
durance, association  with  scholars  and  pious  men,  and  con- 
sciousness of  one's  failings  and  shortcomings. 

Saadia  now  closes  his  work  with  the  following  lines : 
"  Nothing  in  this  book  will  be  of  benefit,  save  to  him  who  has 
purified  ^  his  heart  and  is  intent  on  his  moral  elevation,  as  it  is 
said  (Job,  ii,  13  ff)  :  If  thou  set  thy  heart  aright  and  stretch 
out  thy  hands  toward  Him,  surely  then  shalt  thou  hft  up  thy 
face  without  spot."  A  few  other  verses  are  quoted  to  the 
same  effect. 

POLEMICAL  WORKS 

Polemics  is  a  natural  result  of  intellectual  life  and  activity. 
Wherever  there  is  a  great  display  of  mental  energy  and 
devotion  to  some  cause  on  the  part  of  an  individual  or  a 
multitude  of  men  imbued  by  the  same  spirit,  it  is  bound  to 
arouse  the  opposition  and  antagonism  of  others  whose  in- 
terests and  opinions  go  in  a  different  direction.  This  is,  as 
everybody  knows,  the  origin  of  all  sects  and  schisms  known 
to  history.  In  the  history  of  the  Jewish  people  schismatic 
tendencies  and  actual  defections  from  the  general  cause  were 
not  of  infrequent  occurrence.  But  at  no  time  has  there  been 
so  much  dissension  among  the  Jews  and  so  much  proneness 
to  the  formation  of  new  sects  as  was  the  case  in  Oriental 
Jewry  during  the  last  two  centuries  before  Saadia.  The  air 
was  filled  with  religious  unrest.  Rationalists  and  mystics, 
demagogues  and  dreamers  of  all  sorts  succeeded  one  another 
and    found   adherents   among  the   people,    each   one   con- 

"*The  Hebrew  text  is  here  corrupt,  hence  Guttmann's  incorrect 
translation,  "die  Herzen  zu  reinigen."  For  n^PI  HIlDl^  Dt<  O 
read  l^H  fn5T  DXT  DK  ^D,  as  in  Arabic:  l^^P^^  r«^i)«  VD. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  261 

tributing  his  share  to  the  general  confusion.  None  of  the 
numerous  sects,  it  is  true,  that  arose  in  eastern  Jewry  during 
the  period  in  question,  survived  for  any  length  of  time; 
but  the  repeated  uprisings  of  these  schismatics  against 
the  authority  of  traditional  Judaism  brought  about  a  state 
of  religious  and  intellectual  commotion  that  continued 
its  destructive  effects  long  after  the  original  causes  had  dis- 
appeared. Saadia  himself,  in  his  preface  to  the  KiiCih  al- 
'Amdndt,  gives  a  forceful  description  of  these  conditions, 
part  of  which  was  quoted  above."^ 

More  than  all  other  sects  it  was  the  sect  of  the  Karaites, 
founded  by  the  energetic  Anan  b.  David,  in  760,  that  threat- 
ened to  overthrow  the  authority  of  official  rabbinic  Juda- 
ism. To  what  extent  the  Geonim,  the  representatives  of  that 
Judaism,  tried  to  counteract  the  spread  and  influence  of  the 
new  sect,  cannot  be  ascertained  from  the  existing  sources. 
In  all  probability  they  did  nothing  in  this  direction ;  either 
because  they  were  too  busy  with  the  interpretation  of  the 
traditional  law  and  the  adjustment  of  the  constant  quarrels 
between  them  and  the  Exilarchs,  as  well  as  between  the  two 
rival  academies  which  they  represented,  or — what  is  more 
likely — none  of  them  possessed  enough  general  education 
and  literary  skill  to  take  up  the  fight  against  the  very  active 
and  energetic  propagators  of  the  new  doctrine.  It  required 
a  man  with  the  comprehensive  learning,  the  sharp,  tireless 
pen,  and,  above  all,  the  fighting  disposition  of  Saadia,  to 
set  himself  against  the  manifold  heresies  that  had  invaded  the 
minds  of  the  Jewish  people,  and  especially  against  the  alarm- 
ing spread  of  Karaism,  which  threatened  the  very  existence 
of  traditional  Judaism.  Indeed,  Saadia  was  the  first  and 
the  last  great  scholar  in  eastern  Jewry  who,  single-handed, 
waged  a  fierce  literary  war  on  all  Jewish  sectarians,  particu- 
larly on  the  Karaites.  As  early  as  his  Egyptian  period,  when 
he  was  only  in  his  twenty-third  year,  he  struck  at  the  very  root 
of  Karaism,  in  a  book  against  Anan,  the  founder  of  the  sect. 

'*°  Conditions  like  those  described  by  Saadia  prevailed  at  that  time 
also  among  the  Muhammedans.  An  interesting  parallel  will  be  found 
in  August  Miiller,  Der  Islam.  I.  sgi. 


262  SAADIA  GAON 

It  is  easily  possible  that  it  was  this  book  which  aroused  the 
great  enmity  and  persecution  on  the  part  of  the  Egyptian 
Karaites  that  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  leave  his  native 
country.''*^  Saadia  persisted  in  fighting  Karaism  with  literary 
weapons ;  and  throughout  his  checkered  Hfe  he  continued  to 
combat  its  apostles  with  unrelenting  vigor,  so  that  he  be- 
came the  most  dreaded  and  most  hated  opponent  of  the  sect 
down  to  our  own  times.  We  need  not  go  so  far  as  to 
assume  with  one  recent  investigator  that  everything  Saadia 
has  written  in  the  numerous  branches  of  Jewish  literature 
had  as  its  sole  purpose  the  refutation  of  Karaite  doctrines/" 
There  are  several  works  by  Saadia  in  which  anti-Karaite 
tendencies  can  be  discovered  only  by  a  considerable  stretch 
of  the  imagination.^  It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that 
polemic  against  heresies  in  general  and  Karaism  in  par- 
ticular, direct  and  indirect,  is  a  very  conspicuous  feature  in 
most  of  Saadia's  writings.  His  commentaries  on  the  Bible, 
the  Kitdh  al-'Amdndt^^  and  many  other  works  contain 
numerous  controversial  passages  directed  against  Jewish 
schismatics,  especially  the  Karaites,  although  he  does  not 
always  mention  them  by  name.  Our  present  discussion 
naturally  excludes  incidental  controversies  occurring  in  the 
works  treated  under  the  different  branches  to  which  they 

"®  See  above,  p.  58  [and  especially  the  Postscript]. 

'"  Hirschf  eld,  JQR.,  XVII,  714  f -,  and  recently  in  the  Cohen  Fest- 
schrift, pp.  265  f.,  and  with  still  more  emphasis  in  his  latest  article, 
JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  VIII  (1917-1918),  p.  166.  He  is  followed  by 
Davidson,  Saadia's  Polemic  against  Hiwi  Al-Balkhi,  p.  36. 

^*®  Thus  one  will  hardly  discover  any  trace  of  opposition  to  Karaism 
in  Saadia's  Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yezirah,  nor  is  there  reason 
to  believe  that  his  grammatical  works  {'Agron,  etc.)  and  poetical 
compositions  (as  the  JTlTllt^n  "PV  1"'^^)  were  intended  against  the 
Karaites.  For  the  DIVD  ^''TH  see  Miiller,  Oeuvres,  IX,  p.  xix; 
for  the  nilD  ^^  K'lID  see  above,  note  357;  below,  Bibliography, 
III,  p.  342. 

^'  Comp.  Poznanski,  JQR.,  X,  257  f.  As  to  the  passages  about  the 
"  so-called  "  Jews  referred  to  by  Poznanski,  /.  c,  see  above,  note  524. 
For  anti-Karaite  passages  in  the  various  writings  of  Saadia  see 
Poznanski,  ibidem,  and  additions  thereto  in  his  Karaite  Literary 
Opponents  of  Saadiah,  pp.  97-99. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  263 

belong,  and  limits  itself  to  the  works  devoted  exclusively  to 
polemics.  It  should  be  here  observed  that  none  of  Saadia's 
polemical  writings  has  been  preserved.  Of  some  a  few  frag- 
ments have  been  brought  to  hght  lately  from  the  Genizah. 
Others  are  known  only  by  quotations  in  Saadia's  own  works 
or  in  those  of  other  authors,  Karaite  as  well  as  Rabbanite. 
Though  all  the  controversial  writings  turned  about  points  of 
the  Law,  later  ages,  when  the  Karaite  movement  had  lost  its 
original  significance,  did  not  attach  enough  importance  to 
these  works  to  preserve  them  for  posterity.  They  were 
allowed  to  fall  into  oblivion.'"^  The  following  are  the  works 
thus  far  ascertained : 

1.  Kitdh  al-Radd  'aid  'Andn  (]^V  '^V  in^«  n^?nD),  "  Refu- 
tation of  Anan."  ^°^  Saadia's  first  polemical  work,  writ- 
ten in  915''"'  in  Egypt.  Nothing  definite  can  be  said  as  to 
the  extent  and  content  of  this  book.  A  Karaite  author, 
in  quoting  two  passages  from  Saadia's  lost  commentaries 
on  Genesis  and  Leviticus,  refers  to  his  *'  Refutation  of 
Anan."  From  this  it  appears  that  he  took  Anan  to  task 
on  questions  of  the  calendar,  which,  according  to  the  inno- 
vations of  Anan,  was  to  be  fixed  by  observation  instead 
of  the  rabbinic  method  of  calculation.  Besides  questions 
of  law  and  Biblical  interpretation  the  book  seems  to  have 
contained  personal  attacks  against  the  founder  of  the  sect, 
accusing  him  of  low  motives  and  selfish  interests.  It  was 
in  existence  at  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  but  since 
then  no  reference  to  it  has  become  known. 

2.  Kitdb  al-Tamylz  (f^Dn^N*  nXDD),  "Book  of  Distinc- 
tion." Probably  Saadia's  most  important  and  most  volumin- 
ous polemical  work,  written  in  926-7,  by  which  time,  as  I 
have  demonstrated  (pp.  63  f.),  the  author  had  been  officially 
connected  with  the  Suran  academy.  Unlike  Saadia's  other 
polemical  writings,  this  work  was  not  directed  against  any 

^^^  It  is  also  very  probable  that  all  the  polemical  works  of  Saadia 
were  systematically  destroyed  by  the  Karaites,  against  whom  they 
were  directed;  comp.  Pinsker,  Likknte,  I,  112;  Hirschfeld,  JQR., 
N.  S.,  vol.  VIII    (1917-1918),  p.  177- 

'^^  For  the  literature   see  the  Bibliography,  p.  380. 

['""See  Postscript]. 


264  SAADIA  GAON 

particular  author,  but  against  the  Karaites  in  general.  Sev- 
eral extensive  fragments  have  come  to  light  from  the  Geni- 
zah.  Besides,  a  Karaite  author  of  the  tenth  century  has  pre- 
served considerable  portions  of  the  book  in  his  Bible  com- 
mentary. He  reproduced  them  verbally  in  order  to  give  the 
reader  a  clear  notion  of  the  work.  Saadia  himself  quotes  it 
together  with  his  "  Refutation  of  Anan  "  in  the  passage  from 
his  commentary  on  Genesis  referred  to  above  (p.  263),  which 
was  preserved  by  the  same  Karaite  author.  He  quotes  it 
also  in  his  "  Refutation  of  Ibn  Sakawaihi,"  to  be  discussed 
below.  Moreover,  several  Rabbanite  authors,  as  for  instance, 
Moses  and  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,  refer  to  it  under  the  hebraized 
title  mDiin  1QD  or  inn^n  IDD,  and  give  some  indications  of 
its  contents.  These  fragments  and  quotations  show  that 
nearly  all  points  of  divergence  between  Rabbanites  and 
Karaites  were  discussed  in  the  work.  The  question  of  the 
calendar  must  have  formed  the  greatest  portion  of  the  con- 
troversial matter.^^^  Other  questions  are  about  the  Hghting 
of  lights  on  Sabbath,  the  date  of  the  Feast  of  Weeks,  and 
the  validity  of  the  Oral  Law.  One  of  the  fragments,*" 
which  forms  the  concluding  chapter  of  the  book,  mentions 
a  '*  Judah  al-Iskandarani,"  who,  as  has  been  assumed  by 
recent  scholars  on  sufficient  grounds,  is  none  other  than  Philo 
of  Alexandria."*  The  closing  lines  of  the  work  are:  *'  I  ad- 
jure by  God  those  who  study  this  book  that  they  do  it  with 
a  pure  heart  and  strive  after  the  truth,  whether  it  be  far  or 
near,  that  they  devote  themselves  to  the  Scripture  and  the 
Mishnah  and  to  correct  reasoning.  Then  they  will  arrive 
at   [the  truth]   laid  down  in  this  book,  and  will  thus  re- 

"^  This  is  apparent  from  the  lengthy  fragment  in  Schechter's 
Saadyana,  no.  ix ;  see  also  Poznanski,  JQR.,  X,  252 ;  Karaite  Literary 
Opponents,  p.  96. 

'"The  one  edited  by  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XVI,  102-105;  see  the 
Bibliography,  p.  381,  letter  h. 

'^  See  Poznanski,  REJ.,  L,  10-31;  Karaite  Literary  Opponents, 
p.  95 ;  comp.  JQR.,  XVII,  65 ;  B.  Revel,  The  Karaite  Halakah,  Phila- 
delphia, 1913,  pp.  86  f. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  265 

move  from  their  hearts  all  doubts  and  errors — with  the  help 
of  the  Merciful."''' 

3.  Kitdh  al-Radd  'aid  Ibn  Sdkawaihi  (in«  ^^V  ll^i^  3Kn3 
HMPND),  "Refutation  of  Ibn  Sakawaihi "  (or  Sakuya) 
written  after  the  "  Tamyiz."  Various  hypotheses  have  been 
advanced  as  to  the  identity  of  this  Karaite,  but  none  of  them 
is  sufficiently  assured.  So  far  as  can  be  gathered  from  the 
scant  sources,  Ibn  Sakawaihi,  provoked  by  Saadia's  anti- 
Karaite  writings,  wrote  a  book  under  the  title  "  Kitab  al- 
Fadaih"  (Book  of  Shameful  Things),  in  which  he  at- 
tacked the  most  essential  parts  of  the  rabbinic  law.  The  title 
"  Shameful  Things  "  is  meant  as  a  derogative  designation  of 
the  rabbinic  law.  Saadia's  work  was  a  rejoinder  to  that 
of  the  Karaite.  Several  extensive  fragments,  covering 
about  twelve  pages  in  close  print,  have  of  late  been  discov- 
ered."^ From  these  we  learn  not  only  the  scope  and  content 
of  Saadia's  Refutation,  but  get  sufficient  information  also 
about  the  nature  of  the  work  of  Ibn  Sakawaihi.  The  latter 
was  divided  into  ten  sections,  each  dealing  with  a  special 
subject  of  rabbinic  law  in  an  antagonistic  spirit,  accusing  the 
Rabbis  of  attributing  to  God  bodily  qualities,  of  misinter- 
preting the  Bible,  and  of  falsifying  the  calendar.  Saadia 
takes  up  all  the  points  of  his  opponent,  to  whom  he  often 
refers  as  "  that  ignoramus,"  or  "  that  tyro,"  and  refutes 
them  one  by  one.  The  title  "  Shameful  Things,"  he  says, 
is  appropriate  to  Ibn  Sakawaihi's  work,  for  it  reveals  the 
author's  own  shame  and  impudence  (lini)).  It  may  be 
mentioned  that  in  one  of  the  fragments '"  the  author  makes 
allusion  to  the  year  when  the  Messiah  may  be  expected. 
The  computation  is  on  Hnes  different  from  those  given  in 
the  eighth  chapter  of  his  Kitdb  al-'Amdndt. 

"*The  ending  is  almost  in  the  same  words  as  that  of  the  'Amandt, 
above,  p.  260.  Hirschfeld's  translation  of  these  lines  {JQR.,  XVI, 
99)   is  altogether  incorrect. 

'"'  See  the  Bibliography,  pp.  382  ff. 

^"  JQR.,  XVI,  loi ;  comp.  Malter,  in  Neumark's  Journal  of 
Jewish  Lore  and  Philosophy,  Cincinnati,  1919,  pp.  45-59- 


266  SAADIA  GAON 

4.  Kitab  al-Radd  'aid  al-MutaMmil  ("'^y  "n^X  nxn3 
5'DKnnD^X),  "Refutation  of  an  Overbearing  Antagonist," 
whose  name  the  author  does  not  mention.  It  is  not  impos- 
sible that  this  is  another  rejoinder  to  the  same  Karaite,  Ibn 
Sakawaihi."'^  Of  this  polemical  writing  only  one  fragment 
has  been  discovered,  and  that,  recently.  It  deals  with  the  ques- 
tion of  the  proper  appointment  of  the  Festival  of  Passover. 
According  to  the  rabbinic  rules  of  the  calendar,  Passover 
could  never  fall  on  ^Monday,  Wednesday,  or  Friday."'*  The 
Karaites  opposed  this  rule,  and  Saadia  shows  that  their  op- 
position is  based  on  a  wrong  interpretation  of  the  Scriptural 
verses  relating  to  the  question.  Another  point  of  contro- 
versy in  this  fragment  is  the  day  on  which  the  showbread 
was  set  on  the  table  in  the  Tabernacle.  The  Karaite  au- 
thor argued  against  the  plain  meaning  of  the  verse  (Leviticub, 
24.8) ,  that  it  was  on  Friday,  and  this  opinion  Saadia  refutes. 
From  the  points  of  controversy  it  is  obvious  that  Saadia's 
antagonist  was  a  Karaite  and  not  a  rabbinical  dissenter. 
That  we  have  here  again  a  part  of  the  preceding  work 
(Xo.  3)  and  not  a  separate  treatise  is  quite  improbable, 
because  several  sources  refer  to  a  separate  work  under  the 
title  "  Refutation  of  the  Overbearing  Antagonist,"  ^^"  and 
the  fragment  in  question,  too,  addresses  itself  to  such 
(^OKnriD^K  «nn).  As  to  the  time  when  this  contro- 
versy was  written,  nothing  definite  can  be  said.  An  au- 
thor of  the  earlier  part  of  the  twelfth  century  ^'*  quotes  a 
passage  from  a  controversial  work  by  Saadia  against  a 
heretic,  probably  a  Karaite,  in  which  reference  is  made  by 
Saadia  to  the  "  Book  of  Unity,"  and  the  same  passage  oc- 
curs in  the  second  chapter  of  Saadia's  Kitdb  al-Amdndt, 
which  bears  this  title.  The  controversial  work  in  question 
might,  accordingly,  have  to  be  assigned  to  a  time  subsequent 

"'Comp.  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XVIII,  113  f.;  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge, 
p.  109,  n.  4. 

'''JQR.,  X,  271. 

'^See  the  Bibliography,  p.  384. 

^' Judah  b.  Barzillai,  "'''DD,  pp.  20  ft.,  see  the  Bibliograpliy,  p.  383, 
letter  d. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  267 

to  the  composition  of  the  Kitdb  al-Aindndt  (933).  It  is 
doubtful,  however,  whether  the  passage  quoted  by  the 
twelfth  century  author  was  taken  from  the  work  under  con- 
sideration, or,  what  is  more  probable,  from  the  Refutation 
directed  against  Ibn  Sakawaihi.  Moreover,  as  previously 
statedj^"^  various  chapters,  if  not  all,  of  the  Kitdb  al-Amdndt 
were  issued  by  Saadia  as  separate  essays,  prior  to  the  appear- 
ance of  the  book  as  a  whole.  The  controversial  work,  which- 
ever of  the  two  it  might  be,  might  therefore  have  reference 
to  the  single  treatise  and,  like  the  latter,  precede  the 
Kitdh  al-Amdndt.  Finally,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that 
aside  from  the  polemics  here  enumerated  Saadia  wrote  works 
of  the  same  kind  against  other  heretics  and  Karaites,  the  titles 
of  which  have  not  been  preserved.  He  also  engaged  in  fre- 
quent oral  disputations  with  various  opponents  of  Rabbinism, 
and  subsequently  embodied  their  arguments  as  well  as  his 
counter-arguments  into  his  numerous  works,  especially  into 
those  on  the  calendar  and  into  some  of  his  commentaries  on 
the  Bible,  which  are  likewise  lost.'*^  A  quotation  in  the  works 
of  later  authors,  such  as  the  one  referred  to  above,  may  there- 
fore have  been  taken  from  one  or  the  other  of  these  lost 
works  of  Saadia.  No  definite  inference  as  to  its  particular 
source  should  be  made,  unless  supported  by  other  evidence. 
5.  Kitdb  al-Radd  'aid  Hayawaihi  {vulgo  Hiwi)  al-Balhi 
C'fD^n^N  n.'trn  ""^y  "n^K  nfc^nD),  "Refutation  of  Hiwi  al- 
Balhi,"  i.  e.  of  Balkh,  Persia.  Written  in  Hebrew  rhymed 
prose  and  referred  to  by  Saadia  himself  in  his  Kitdb  al- 
'Amdndt  and  in  his  later  work,  the  Scfer  ha-Gdlui.  Hiwi 
was  not  a  Karaite  nor  a  follower  of  any  particular  sect,  but  a 
Jewish  radical,  who  denied  not  only  the  validity  of  the  Tal- 
mud, but  also  that  of  the  Bible,  either  in  its  entirety  or  in  part. 
Guided  by  certain  heretical  works  of  Muhammedan  and  Per- 
sian authors,  severe  critics  of  the  Koran,  he  applied  their  criti- 

"*  See  above,  note  456. 

^^  Thus  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra's  quotations  of  Saadia's  refutation  of 
the  Karaite  Ben  Zuta  (on  Exodus  21,  24,  Leviticus,  23,  15)  in  all 
probability  refer  to  a  verbal  dispute  between  the  Gaon  and  the 
Karaite;  see  below,  Bibliography,  section  VII,  p.  398,  nos.  9,  10. 


268  SAADIA  GAON 

cism  to  the  Bible,  trying  to  prove  that  its  statements  often 
contradict  one  another,  and  that  many  of  its  teachings  are 
against  reason.  He  is  reported  to  have  written  a  book  in 
which  he  raised  two  hundred  objections  to  the  Scriptures. 
Of  these  none  has  been  preserved  directly,  but  their  nature 
and  purpose  are  known  from  the  recently  published  frag- 
ment of  Saadia's  "  Refutations,"  which  were  partly  em- 
bodied also  into  his  Kitah  al-Amdncit,  and  from  quotations 
of  later  authors,  especially  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra.  From  these 
we  see  that  Hiwi  believed  in  the  eternity  of  the  world,  and 
denied  free  will  and  the  possibility  of  miracles.  He  also 
attacked  the  Biblical  passages  that  required  the  Israelites 
to  build  a  tabernacle  and  to  offer  sacrifices,  and  he  doubted 
the  veracity  of  various  Scriptural  narratives,  thus  endeavor- 
ing to  destroy  the  very  foundation  of  the  Jewish  religion. 
He  is  said  to  have  prepared  an  abridged  Bible,  from  which 
he  eliminated  all  objectionable  portions,  and  to  have  intro- 
duced it  as  a  text-book  into  Jewish  schools.  Owing  to  the 
religious  unrest  that  prevailed  among  the  eastern  Jews  of  that 
time,  as  depicted  also  by  Saadia,  his  ideas  found  many  fol- 
lowers and  his  text-book  seems  to  have  had  a  wide  cir- 
culation.'" 

We  can  imagine  with  what  fervor  and  determination 
Saadia  took  up  the  fight  against  these  dangerous  heresies. 
Aside  from  the  special  work  in  refutation  of  them,  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  which  has  only  been  recovered  recently,^' 
he  carried  on  actual  war  against  the  writings  of  Hiwi  and,  as 
we  are  told  by  the  twelfth  century  chronicler  Abraham  Ibn 
Daud,  he  succeeded  in  having  the  expurgated  Bible  banished 
from  the  schools.  In  his  Sefer  ha-Gdliii  (p.  177)  Saadia 
points  to  his  Refutation  of  Hiwi  as  a  specially  meritorious 
deed  of  his. 

^  For  all  the  details  here  mentioned  see  the  references  in  the 
Bibliography,  pp.  384  ff. 

°*'  This  very  interesting  portion,  covering  about  one  sixth  of  the 
whole  work,  was  found  and  published  by  Dr.  Israel  Davidson.  A 
full  account  of  it  is  given  in  the  Bibliography,  p.  386. 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  269 

6.  Sefer  ha-Galui  (n^JH  1QD),  "  The  Open  Book,"  a  title 
borrowed  from  Jeremiah,  32.  14.  Saadia  wrote  this  work 
during  the  years  of  his  seclusion,  after  having  been  removed 
from  the  Gaonate  by  the  Exilarch  David  b.  Zakkai  (931- 
934) .  It  was  composed  in  Hebrew  in  a  highly  rhetorical  style, 
divided  into  verses,  vocalized  and  accentuated  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  Bible.  The  author's  main  intention  was  to  justify 
his  position  in  the  struggle  with  the  Exilarch  and  to  defend 
himself  against  the  attacks  of  his  numerous  adversaries.  Inci- 
dentally it  was  to  serve  as  a  model  of  elegant  Hebrew  style. 
His  enemies  were  not  convinced  by  his  expositions,  and  his 
imitation  of  the  Bible,  which  they  considered  an  act  of  arro- 
gance and  irreverence,  only  gave  them  additional  ground 
for  renewed  opposition.  Saadia  then  issued  a  second  work 
(935-6),  this  time  in  Arabic,  to  which  the  original  Hebrew 
text,  perhaps  in  a  revised  and  enlarged  edition,  may  have 
been  added.  In  this  work,  which  he  describes  as  Al-Kitdb 
al-Tdrid  (in^^D^^  n^?nD^^?),  "The  Book  that  Refutes,"  he 
translated  and  commented  upon  the  difficult  Hebrew  text, 
defended  various  points  of  grammar  and  style,  which  had 
been  made  the  object  of  criticism  by  his  opponents,  and 
inserted  some  other  material  of  a  literary  and  controversial 
nature.  The  whole  was  preceded  by  a  lengthy  Arabic 
Introduction,  in  which  the  author  summarized  the  contents  of 
the  book  and  related  the  causes  that  had  led  him  to  its  com- 
position.'^* Several  extensive  fragments'*^  of  both  the 
Hebrew  and  Arabic  texts,  one  of  which  covers  nearly  the 
whole  Arabic  Introduction,  have  been  recovered,  altogether 
about  forty  printed  pages.  In  the  Introduction  ^  we 
receive  most  valuable  information  regarding  the  history  and 

"*'  The  proofs  for  all  these  statements,  which  in  many  points  are  at 
variance  with  the  generally  accepted  view,  will  be  found  in  the  dis- 
cussion given  in  connection  with  the  Bibliography  on  this  book. 

^"  See  the  description  in  the  Bibliography,  pp.  387-394. 

^^  The  portion  of  the  Introduction  which  is  sketched  in  what  fol- 
lows was  published  by  Malter  in  the  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  Ill  (1912-1913), 
pp.  487-499,  where  further  details  concerning  the  text  and  contents 
are  given. 


270  SAADIA  GAON 

content  of  the  work.  In  a  few  preliminary  remarks,  the 
beginning  of  which  is  missing,  the  author  defends  himself 
against  the  accusation  of  having  assumed  the  role  of  a 
prophet  by  giving  his  book  the  appearance  of  a  Biblical  text. 
He  avows  that  the  division  into  verses  and  the  addition  of 
vowel-points  and  accents  are  merely  means  of  facilitating  the 
reading  and  understanding  of  a  Hebrew  book.  He  points 
to  several  post-Biblical  authors  before  him,  among  them 
Sirach  and  the  five  sons  of  Mattathiah,  the  Hasmonean,  who 
did  the  same  without  being  censured.  He  then  gives  an 
outline  of  the  whole  work,  from  which  we  learn  that  it  is 
divided  into  seven  sections.  The  first  contains  a  description 
of  the  value  of  learning  and  of  the  proper  methods  for  its 
attainment,  and  the  second  deals  with  historical  questions, 
e.  g.,  the  duration  of  prophecy  in  Israel  and  the  time  of  the 
redaction  of  the  Mishnah  and  the  Talmud.  The  reason  for 
this  historical  investigation,  he  says,  is  that  those  who  are 
called  or  call  themselves  Rabbis  in  his  time,  are  quite  ignor- 
ant in  these  matters.  In  the  third  section  he  describes  the 
misfortune  bound  to  befall  a  people  that  is  ruled  by  a  despot 
(as  David  b.  Zakkai),  and  in  the  fourth  he  endeavors  to 
prove  from  the  history  of  Israel  that  God  provides  every 
generation  with  a  sage  or  teacher  who  counteracts  injustice 
and  leads  the  people  in  the  right  path.  With  the  self-con- 
fidence characteristic  of  Saadia,  he  points  to  his  own  Provi- 
dential position  as  a  leader  in  Israel  and  defender  of  the 
Law.  The  fifth  chapter  contains  an  exposition  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Torah  and  some  computation  as  to  the  time  of 
the  Messianic  Redemption.  The  sixth  gives  an  account  of 
the  author's  suflferings  at  the  hands  of  his  unjust  enemies. 
The  final  section  presents  the  ideas  expressed  in  the  Bible  re- 
garding the  wicked  who  oppress  the  innocent  and  how  they 
are  punished.  The  purpose  of  this  presentation,  he  says, 
is  that  the  wicked  of  his  own  days  may  discover  themselves 
in  the  picture  and  be  induced  to  give  up  their  evil  conduct. 
Aside  from  the  seven  special  subjects  enumerated,  the  book 
as  a  whole,  he  continues,  has  three  general  purposes,  the 
gist  of  which  is  that  it  is  to  serve  the  people  as  a  model  for 


SAADIA'S  WORKS  271 

their  Hebrew  compositions ;  ^^  for  through  the  spread  of 
Arabic  and  Aramaic""  they  have  of  late  forgotten  the 
proper  usages  of  the  Hebrew  language.  In  this  connection 
he  refers  to  his  earliest  known  work,  the  'Agron,  and  to  the 
"  Book  on  Language,"  both  composed  for  a  similar  pur- 
pose/^ 

Aside  from  this  general  outline,  the  Introduction,  as  well 
as  the  fragments  of  the  work  itself,  contains  numerous 
remarks  of  exegetical  and  historical  interest.  If  we  may 
judge  from  the  material  at  hand,  the  loss  of  this  work  is 
from  many  a  point  of  view  highly  regrettable."'' 

"'  See  the  article  quoted  in  the  preceding  note,  pp.  492  f .,  nn.  20,  22 ; 
p.  494,  n.  26. 

""The  text  has  ri''t3!lJ,  i.  e.,  Nabatean,  by  which  Aramaic  is  here 
meant;  comp.  Bacher,  JQR.,  XII,  705;  Margoliouth,  JQR,  XIII,  157, 
n.  I. 

*"  See  above,  p.  40. 

""'See  above,  pp.  119  f.;  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  62,  lines  9  f.,  from 
below. 


Chapter  VII 

SAADIA'S  INFLUENCE  ON  LATER  GENERATIONS 
After  all  that  has  been  said  in  the  preceding  chapters  about 
the  Hfe  and  activity  of  Saadia  Gaon,  there  is  no  need  to  em- 
phasize the  importance  of  both  his  Hfe  and  his  work,  not 
only  for  the  Jewry  of  his  time  but  also  for  that  of  all  later 
generations.  It  is  almost  gratuitous  to  speak  of  the  influence 
of  one  whom  we  know  to  have  been  the  actual  originator  of 
a  given  development.  Saadia  did  not  merely  influence  the 
Judaism  of  the  Middle  Ages,  but,  to  a  very  large  extent 
at  least,  he  created  it.  It  is  true  that  Saadia  was  neither 
the  first  nor  the  only  Jewish  scholar  of  the  Geonic  period 
who  produced  Hterary  work  either  on  strictly  Jewish  or 
on  general  lines.  In  the  field  of  the  Halakah  he  was  pre- 
ceded by  several  eminent  authors,  such  as  'Aha  of  Shab- 
beha  (750),  the  Geonim  Yehudai  (760),  Amram  (856- 
874),'"  Nahshon  (874-882),  who  wrote  on  the  calendar ,"'' 
and  Zemah  b.  Paltoi  (872-890),  who  composed  a  lexicon  to 
the  Talmud.**'"  Besides  these  and  the  earlier  Masorites  and 
synagogue  poets,  like  Kalir  and  others,  whose  productions 
were  of  basic  importance  for  the  later  development  of 
the    respective    branches,    there    were    also    grammarians, 

"'Aha  is  the  author  of  the  "  Sheeltot "  (Quaestiones) ,  a  consider- 
able work  containing  Halakic  disquisitions  interspersed  with  Hag- 
gadic  elements.  The  book  appeared  twice  with  commentaries.  To 
Yehudai  Gaon  is  attributed  the  "  Halakot  Gedolot,"  while  Amram 
is  credited  with  the  compilation  of  the  first  Order  of  Prayers ;  see 
above,  p.  147,  and  the  Bibliography,  p.  335;  for  details  regarding 
these  works  see  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  75  flf. 

"*The  treatise  is  known  as  the  'Iggul  (Cycle)  of  R.  Nahshon 
and  was  often  printed;  comp.  Steinschneider,  Bihliotheca  Mathe- 
matica,  1894,  p.  loi,  no.  14;  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  1,  154-158. 

""  The  work  existed  as  late  as  the  sixteenth  century,  but  since  then 
all  trace  of  it  has  been  lost;  comp.  Ginzberg,  /.  c,  pp.  159  f. 

272 


SAADIA'S  INFLUENCE  ON  LATER  GENERATIONS    27Z 

exegetes,  and  philosophers  prior  to  and  contemporaneous 
with  Saadia,"^  whose  works  had  some  influence  upon  medi- 
aeval Jewish  literature/"  However,  while  many  of  Saadia's 
predecessors  and  contemporaries  may  have  had  a  share  in 
moulding  the  ideas  of  their  time  or  of  subsequent  genera- 
tions, the  general  development  of  our  literature  along  all 
lines  of  knowledge  and  research  actually  began  with  Saadia. 
It  was  his  comprehensive  literary  activity  that  welded  numer- 
ous and  diverse  subjects  of  study  and  research  into  a  rounded 
system  of  religion ;  that  opened  new  perspectives  to  the 
thinking  minds  of  the  generations  after  him,  and  gave  them 
a  fresh  and  forceful  impetus  to  continue  to  deepen  the  work 
he  had  begun. 

It  is  further  true  that  many  great  men  of  the  first  few 
centuries  after  Saadia,  as  the  grammarian  Jonah  Ibn  Ganah, 
the  exegete  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,  the  Talmudist  and  philoso- 
pher Maimonides,  and  numerous  others,  likewise  exercised 

"'  This  is  obvious  from  very  numerous  passages  of  Saadia's 
writings,  especially  from  passages  in  his  Commentary  on  the  Sefer 
Yesirah  and  in  the  Kitdb  aWAmandt,  in  which  he  refers  to  or  argues 
against  predecessors ;  comp.  e.  g.  Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yezirah, 
ed.  Lambert,  p.  81,  last  line ;  p.  82,  1.  13,  where  another  commentator 
of  the  same  work  G"'1D5tt^^?  VJ/S,  see  Steinschneider,  Bibliotheca 
Mathematica,  1895,  p.  24)  is  mentioned;  Kitdb  al-Anidndt,  p.  207, 
last  line  {Em.,  p.  103)  ;  247,  1.  3  {Em.,  p.  126,  1.  4;  comp.  ZfhB.,  Ill,  p. 
176,  n.  22,  where  the  passages  are  unnecessarily  referred  to  Karaites)  ; 
Introduction  to  his  Commentary  on  Psalms  (edited  by  Eppenstein  in 
the  Harkavy  Festschrift),  p.  149,  bottom;  comp.  Rapoport,  Bikkure 
ha-'Ittim,  IX,  p.  27,  n.  6;  J.  Cohn,  MWI.,  VIII,  p.  73,  n.  i;  for 
Saadia's  contemporaries  see  above,  pp.  45,  66  f . 

"^  Thus,  the  view  that  all  the  prophetic  promises  had  reference  to 
the  time  of  the  Second  Temple,  when  they  were  fulfilled,  a  view 
against  which  Saadia,  in  one  of  the  passages  referred  to  above 
{Kitdb  al-Amdndt,  pp.  247  f. ;  Emmwt,  pp.  126  ff.;  see  above 
pp.  239  f.)  argues  with  so  much  vehemence,  is  maintained  also  by 
Moses  Ibn  Gikatillah  of  the  eleventh  century  (comp.  Poznanski, 
Moses  Ibn  Chiqnitilla,  Leipzig,  1895,  p.  27),  who  was  strongly  opposed 
by  Nahmanides  (H^lt^an  "IQD,  London,  1909,  pp.  16  ff.)  and  others. 
The  matter  is  referred  to  also  in  an  Arabic  fragment  of  a  Karaite 
polemic  against  Saadia  published  by  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol. 
VIII  (1917-1918) ;  see  ib.,  p.  174. 
18 


274  SAADIA  GAON 

tremendous  influence  in  their  respective  fields  of  work.  But 
they  all  built  on  the  foundations  laid  by  the  Gaon ;  their 
works  are  full  of  direct  and  indirect  quotations  from  his 
writings ;  and  in  some  instances  they  could  not  have  been 
conceived  without  Saadia's  epoch-making  utterances. 

It  would  be  an  interesting  task,  and  of  real  value  for  the 
history  of  the  development  of  Jewish  thought,  to  follow  up 
the  traces  of  Saadia's  ideas  in  the  works  of  mediaeval  au- 
thors and  to  show  in  detail  how  much  they  were,  directly 
or  indirectly,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  indebted  to  the 
works  of  the  great  Gaon. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  measuring  Saadia's 
influence  it  is  not  merely  the  direct  citations  found  in  the 
works  of  various  authors  that  are  to  be  taken  as  a  criterion. 
Mediaeval  writers  were  not  much  concerned  about  stating  the 
exact  origin  of  the  views  they  expressed.  Any  idea  in  the 
works  of  contemporaries  or  predecessors  that  appealed  to 
them  they  appropriated  readily,  and  gave  it  further  publicity 
in  their  own  works  without  the  least  consciousness  of 
plagiarism."^  If,  on  the  other  hand,  a  certain  view  did  not 
meet  with  the  approval  of  an  author,  he  would  argue  against 
it  or  simply  deny  its  validity,  without  mentioning  the  one 
responsible  for  it.  The  question  was  of  the  value  of  an 
idea ;  its  author  was  immaterial.  The  result,  especially  in 
Jewish  philosophy,  was  that  theories  were  repeated  by 
various  authors  as  if  new  and  original,  and  subsequent 
writers,  when  they  happened  to  cite  the  source,  would  credit 

"^  Even  the  Gaon  Hai,  so  near  the  time  of  Saadia,  used  much  of 
the  eighth  chapter  of  the  'Amdndt  almost  verbally  (see  below,  note 
614)  without  mentioning  his  source;  and  the  same  practice  is  observ- 
able also  in  the  works  of  others.  Authors  of  great  scientific  accuracy, 
such  as  Ibn  Ganah  (see  MGWJ.,  1902,  p.  367,  top)  and  Maimonides, 
are  no  exceptions.  For  the  latter  see  Guttmann,  in  Isr.  Lewy's  Fest- 
schrift, pp.  308-326  {Moses  h.  Maimon,  II,  216)  ;  idem,  Die  Religions- 
philosophie  des  Abraham  Ibn  Daud,  Gottingen,  1879,  P-  9,  ^^^  above, 
notes  399,  416,  446;  see  also  above,  p.  154,  regarding  Bahya  Ibn 
Bakudah.  For  some  cases  of  conscious  plagiarism  see  the  references 
in  Steinschneider's  Hebr'dische  Uebersetziingen,  p.  16,  n.  no;  Bibli- 
otheca  Mathematica,  1895,  p.  103,  n.  14. 


SAADIA'S  INFLUENCE  ON  LATER  GENERATIONS    275 

the  one  from  whom  they  quoted,  without  troubhng  them- 
selves much  about  the  accuracy  of  the  attribution."'^ 

The  Hterary  practice  here  described  naturally  found  many 
exceptions.  Particularly  in  the  field  of  the  Halakah,  in 
accordance  with  a  Talmudic  dictum,"^  there  existed  a  great 
anxiety  to  ascertain  in  each  case  the  authority  for  a  given 
statement.  Unhke  questions  of  philosophy,  exegesis,  etc., 
it  was  not  a  matter  of  general  reasoning,  in  most  instances 
of  no  immediate  consequence  for  the  religious  life  of  the 
people.  The  problems  of  the  Halakah  concern  matters  of 
law  and  the  decision  is  based  essentially  on  authority  and 
tradition.  Here,  naming  of  the  sources  is  of  special  im- 
portance. The  personal  element  in  Halakic  works,  except- 
ing, of  course,  their  method  and  form  which  were  often 
tacitly  borrowed,  becomes  conspicuous,  revealing  the  extent 
of  an  author's  dependence  upon  his  predecessors.  In  all 
other  branches  of  Jewish  literature  anonymity  and  mixing  of 
sources  are  pervasive  factors.  To  determine  the  infliience 
exerted  directly  or  indirectly  by  the  works  of  a  given  author 
upon  those  of  later  ages,  it  would  be  necessary  to  go  over 
the  entire  field,  comparing  the  related  writings  both  in  form 
and  content,  with  a  view  of  establishing  the  parallels.  The 
immensity  of  such  a  task  in  the  case  of  Saadia  is  obvious.  If, 
in  addition,  we  consider  the  mixture  of  languages  in  the  lit- 
erature of  the  Jewish  Middle  Ages,  the  fact  that  translations 
from  one  language  into  another  contribute  in  no  little  measure 

678a  Yhus,  to  quote  a  few  instances  only,  Abraham  Bedersi  (13th  c.), 
in  his  JT'^Dn  DDin,  Amsterdam,  1865,  p.  149,  quotes  in  the  name  of 
Saadia  what  is  found  verbally  in  the  translation  by  Harizi  of  Maimo- 
nides's  Guide,  I,  fs,  while  on  the  other  hand  Joseph  Ibn  Yahya 
( 1 494- 1 539),  11  i^  min,  Bologna,  1538,  ch.  8,  cites  Maimonides  for 
what  is  originally  Saadia's.  Similarly,  Saadia's  discussion  of  the 
permutation  of  letters  (see  above,  p.  186,  with  reference  to  Esther, 
9.  3)  is  quoted  twice  in  the  name  of  Eleazar  of  Worms  (12th  c.)  by 
Judah  Moscato  in  his  Dlin''  ^"IP,  a  commentary  on  the  Kucari  (Wilna 
1905)  ;  see  ib.,  p.  25  ad  Kusari,  I,  i,  and  p.  121,  ad  IV,  25. 

'™D^iy^  n^1t^5  t^"'nD  nroiX  n^2  nm  noil^n  ^D,  "Whosoever 
reports  an  idea  in  the  name  of  its  originator  brings  redemption  to 
the  world"  (b.  Meg.,  15a). 


276  SAADIA  GAON 

to  the  obliteration  of  identity  and,  finally,  that  the  texts  of 
most  of  Saadia's  works  are  lost,  we  shall  realize  the  diffi- 
culty, if  not  the  hopelessness,  of  any  present-day  attempt 
at  systematically  tracing  the  Saadianic  elements  in  the  Judseo- 
Arabic  and  Hebrew  mediaeval  literature. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  no  such  investigation,  useful  as  it  might 
be  for  our  knowledge  of  Jewish  literary  history,  can  be 
undertaken  here.  It  would  require  a  special  volume,  of  con- 
siderable proportions.  For  our  purpose  it  will  suffice  to 
quote  a  few  passages  from  the  works  of  some  of  the  most 
famous  medieval  authors  in  the  different  fields  of  Jew- 
ish learning.  These  will  demonstrate  the  high  respect  and 
almost  unlimited  recognition  accorded  to  Saadia  by  the  great 
minds  of  subsequent  ages,  and  thus  serve  as  an  indication — 
but  not  a  measure — of  his  undying  influence.  To  begin 
with,  Sherira  Gaon  (about  900-998),  who  may  have  known 
Saadia  personally,  in  deciding  a  certain  Talmudic  question 
against  a  decision  attributed  to  Saadia,  declares  it  to  be 
spurious,  *'  because,"  he  says,  "  Saadia  was  so  great  a  scholar 
that  no  important  law  could  have  escaped  him."  ^^  About 
the  same  time  the  philologist  Menahem  b.  Saruk,  finding 
himself  at  variance  with  Saadia  on  certain  grammatical 
points  surrenders  his  own  position  in  the  following  words: 
"  As  to  R.  Saadia,  who  has  arranged  these  nouns  under 
the  letter  He,  I  do  not  know  what  prompted  him  to  do  so, 
and  what  was  his  opinion  thereon.  But  the  accuracy  of  his 
interpretations  and  the  comprehensiveness  of  his  linguis- 
tic work  testify  to  his  understanding;  it  is  therefore  a 
matter  of  propriety  and  loyalty  not  to  criticise  the  way 
he  arranged  his  material."  ^^  Half  a  century  later  one 
of  the  most  eminent  scholars  of  the  time,  the  Talmudist 
and  mathematician  Isaac  b.  Baruk  Ibn  al-Baliya  (1035- 
1094),     excuses     himself     for     contradicting     Saadia     on 

"*"  Responsa  P1V  ''"IV^,  i8a,  no.  11;  comp.  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p. 
64,  n.  6. 

**"  DHJD  niDHD,  ed.  Filipofski,  London,  1854,  P-  69;  comp.  Luzzatto, 
nVIXn  nu,  I  (Lemberg,  1881),  37. 


SAADIA'S  INFLUENCE  ON  LATER  GENERATIONS    277 

a  question  of  the  calendar,  as  follows :  "  No  one  should 
reproach  me,  saying  '  How  dare  you  contradict  a  man  great 
and  distinguished  far  beyond  your  own  greatness  and  dis- 
tinction?' For,  I  answer,  it  is  true  that  he  [Saadia]  was 
greater  in  every  science  than  I  am,  but  Moses  our  teacher 
was  also  a  Gaon,  and  the  greatest  man  in  all  Israel,  and  yet 
this  did  not  prevent  Eleazar  the  priest  from  doing  what 
Moses  had  failed  to  do  (Numbers,  31.  21).  How  much 
more  should  one  be  permitted  to  say  that  a  view  of  Saadia 
does  not  appeal  to  him  ?  "  "'" 

The  renowned  grammarian  Jonah  Ibn  Ganah,  rebuking  the 
Talmudists  of  his  time  for  their  neglect  of  Hebrew  philo- 
logical studies,  points  to  Saadia  as  an  example  of  a  broad- 
minded  Talmudist,  in  the  words  :  "  Not  as  such  are  known  to 
us  the  great  Talmudic  masters  of  former  times,  for 
R.  Saadia,  of  blessed  memory,  displayed  great  efforts  in  this 
direction  attaining  the  highest  end  he  was  capable  of.  He 
strove  toward  the  aim  which  with  his  comprehensiveness 
he  had  set  himself  in  explaining  the  language,  laying  bare  its 
roots  and  clearing  up  its  branches  in  many  of  his  compo- 
sitions, both  in  those  written  especially  for  the  purpose,  as 
the  work  entitled  '  Book  of  the  Language,'  and  those  which 
were  not  written  especially  for  this  purpose."  ^^  Judah  Ibn 
Bal'am,  a  great  grammarian  and  exegete  of  the  eleventh 
century,  would  not  decide  a  question  on  which  Saadia  and 
Hai  Gaon  disagreed,  saying  that  it  is  too  difficult  to  decide 
between  two  such  great  authorities,  whom  he  calls  "  everlast- 
ing (or  the  world's)  foundations"  (Proverbs,  10.  25).  To 
justify  this  attitude  he  points  to  another  author,  who,  for  the 

^  Quoted  by  Abraham  b.  Hiyya  in  his  ^^IVT]  1SD,  edited  by 
Filipofski,  London,  1851,  p.  59;  comp.  Steinschneider,  Bihliotheca 
Mathematica,  1895,  p.  100. 

^"^  Introduction  to  his  Kitah  al-Luma'  (edited  by  Joseph  Derenbourg 
under  the  title  Le  livre  des  parterres  Ueuris,  Paris,  1886),  p.  3, 
11.  18-23 ;  Hebrew  translation  of  Judah  Ibn  Tibbon  under  the  title 
riDPin  "IDD  (edited  by  Goldberg  and  Kirchheim,  Frankfurt  a/M., 
1856),  p.  V.  For  the  ''Book  of  the  Language"  mentioned  in  this 
passage,  see  above,  p.  139. 


278  SAADIA  GAON 

same  reason,  would  not  pass  an  opinion  in  a  matter  on  which 
Aristotle  and  Galen  differed.'"  The  poet  Moses  Ibn  Ezra 
(about  1070-1140)  likewise  mentions  Saadia  and  Hai  to- 
gether as  "  the  two  princes  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Law 
(Halakah)  and  the  mightiest  among  the  theologians/"'' 
The  famous  moralist  Bahya  Ibn  Bakudah  closes  the  Intro- 
duction to  his  "  Duties  of  the  Heart "  with  the  following 
words  :  "  Understand  of  the  Torah  of  thy  God  that  to  which 
I  called  thy  attention.  In  order  to  accomplish  this,  avail 
thyself  of  the  works  of  Rabbi  Saadia,  may  God  make  shine 
his  countenance  and  sanctify  his  spirit ;  for  they  illumine 
the  intellect  and  sharpen  the  mind,  they  guide  aright  the 
negligent  and  stir  up  the  indolent."  ''"  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra, 
though  he  often  criticized  Saadia's  views,'^^  styles  him  "  the 
chief  spokesman  everywhere,"  ^^  and  "  the  pillar  of  the 
Torah,"  ""*  and  usually  quotes  him  as  '"  the  Gaon,"  without 
adding  his  name.  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra's  pupil,  the  lexi- 
cographer Solomon  Ibn  Parhon,  takes  occasion  to  character- 
ize Saadia  as  "  the  chief  preceptor  and  pioneer  exegete,  who 
interpreted  Scripture  in  the  proper  way  and  placed  it  on  a 

°"  See  Steinschneider  in  Geiger's  Judische  Zeitschrift,  II,  308; 
idem,  Polemische  und  apologetische  Literatur,  p.  273,  n.  73,  and  AL., 
p.  64,  n.  6;  comp.  Dukes,  Beitrdge,  II,  pp.  186,  196.  It  should  be 
stated,  however,  that  the  same  Ibn  Bal'am  in  opposing  Saadia's  trans- 
lation of  Is.  I,  8  (REJ.,  XVII,  183)  refers  to  him  as  "  one  who  has 
no  knowledge  about  the  roots  of  the  Hebrew  language." 

^  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  64,  n.  6. 

'*  Arabic  text  edited  by  Yahuda,  Leyden,  1912,  p.  33 ;  comp.  Munk, 
Notice  sur  R.  Saadia  Gaon,  p.  6,  n.  i ;  see  also  above,  p.  154. 

°"  For  a  general  characterization  of  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra's  relation 
to  Saadia  see  Bacher,  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra's  Einleitung  su  seinem 
Pentateiich-Commentar,  Vienna,  1876,  pp.  29ff;  see  also  below,  note 
607. 

■^^See  above,  pp.  52,  154. 

■^'This  title  (Hlinn  n»V)  he  makes  Saadia  share  with  Onkelos, 
thus  placing  both  on  the  same  level;  comp.  Bacher,  ibidem,  p.  31,  nn. 
2,  3.  The  designation  of  Saadia  as  "the  Gaon"  without  further 
specification  is  very  common  also  in  the  works  of  other  authors,  but 
sometimes  applies  also  to  the  Gaon  Hai;  comp.  Steinschneider, 
Polemische  und  apologetische  Literatur,  p.  249,  n.  13. 


SAADIA'S  INFLUENCE  ON  LATER  GENERATIONS    279 

firm  basis,  so  that  all  exegetes  profited  by  his  wisdom.  He 
knew  the  holy  language  thoroughly,  as  also  the  language  of 
the  Arabs  and  other  languages." '"" 

Maimonides,  who  disagreed  with  Saadia  on  many  a  point, 
nevertheless  says  that  "  were  it  not  for  Saadia,  the  Torah 
would  almost  have  disappeared  from  the  midst  of  Israel ; 
for  it  was  he  who  made  manifest  what  was  obscure 
therein,  made  strong  what  had  been  weakened,  and  made  it 
known  far  and  wide  by  word  of  mouth  and  in  writing."  ^"^ 
Maimonides's  celebrated  pupil,  Joseph  Ibn  'Aknin,  in  men- 
tioning his  predecessors  who  had  served  him  as  models  in  the 
composition  of  his  Commentary  on  Canticles,  gives  the  first 
place  to  Saadia,  "  whose  light  we  have  used  in  order  to  illu- 
mine our  way,  and  in  whose  path  we  have  walked."  °'*''  The 
Provengal  Shem  Tob  Palquera  (1225-1290),  a  man  of  great 
literary  insight,  says  "  R.  Saadia,  of  blessed  memory,  com- 
mented upon  the  Torah  and  the  books  of  the  Prophets ;  his 
expositions  are  laudable,  they  contain  true  ideas  of  a  scien- 
tific nature,  but  also  views  of  the  earlier  MutakaUimtm,  which 

"^ll'nyn  rriDnD,  s.  v.  mS.  Ibn  Parhon's  statement  regarding 
Saadia's  knowledge  of  "  other  languages "  is  borne  out  by  the 
niiriD  TID  '7V  ti'nD  (see  below,  p.  342,  no.  i)  which  shows  Saadia's 
acquaintance  with  Greek  and  Persian  and  his  intimate  knowledge 
of  various  Oriental  dialects;  comp.  J.  N.  Epstein,  Der  gaon'dische 
Kommentar  zur  Ordnung  Tohoroth,  Berlin,  1915,  pp.  32,  51-74. 

''MO^ri  m."I«  (in  D'^nDin  nnitJ^n  rniP,  part  II,  Leipzig,  1859), 
p.  5,  col.  b;  comp.  Rapoport,  Bikkure  ha-Ittim^  XI,  83  f.  For  Abra- 
ham Ibn  Daud  see  below,  note  607. 

°^^  As  the  Commentary  is  in  MS,  only,  I  adduce  here  the  pas- 
sage from  a  copy  made  by  Steinschneider,  which  is  in  my  pos- 
session:     i<r]jr:i    n«nD^«    N*in^   poip^^x   i^oDn    «rNn   ipt 

Nrtj'o  nin^D  ^^yi  t^J^vnox  niijn  n^w  ^''t  nx:i  nnyo  ijni 

comp.  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  64,  n.  6;  231,  no.  6  (line  4  from  below 
read  105  for  100).  Similar  praise  is  bestowed  upon  Saadia  by 
Judah  Hasid  (12th  c.)  quoted  by  Marx  IQR.,  N.  S.,  II,  263.  The 
famous  mystic  Abraham  Abulafia  (13th  c.)  likewise  prides  himself 
on  the  knowledge  he  derived  from  his  study  of  Saadia's  Sefer 
ha-Emunut  (Jellinek,  n^iPH  DDDIl  MJ3,  Flebrew  part,  p.  18;  comp. 
below,  note  622). 


28o  SAADIA  GAON 

were  refuted  by  later  Mutakallimun."  ^^^  Towards  the  end 
of  the  thirteenth  century  we  hear  the  opinion  of  an  author  of 
high  repute,  the  philosopher  and  poet  Jedaiah  ha-Penini  of 
Beziers,  who  in  his  Letter  of  Defence  of  the  study  of  philos- 
ophy, addressed  to  Solomon  b.  Adret,  points  to  Saadia  with 
the  following  words :  "  The  most  distinguished  advocate  of 
secular  learning  among  all  the  Geonim  and  other  ancient 
sages  under  Arabic  rule,  whose  fame  has  reached  us,  is  the 
great  Gaon  R.  Saadia  al-Fayyumi,  who  has  enlightened  the 
eyes  of  the  generations  by  his  precious  works ;  we  possess 
his  scientific  Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yeqirah  and  his 
Emunot,  in  which  he  elucidates  various  doctrines  and  pro- 
duces many  arguments  and  interpretations  of  verses  from 
the  Torah  and  the  Prophets,  which  he  brings  as  near  to  the 
understanding  as  possible."  ^^^ 

Somewhat  reserved  is  the  praise  of  another  Provengal, 
the  Talmudist  Menahem  Meiri  of  Perpignan  (died  1306). 
After  having  discussed  the  Geonim  prior  to  Saadia,  he  says, 
".  .  .  .  until  the  time  came  for  R.  Saadia,  who  was  brought 
from  Egypt  to  Babylonia,  who  composed  numberless  books 
on  the  oral  and  written  Law,  on  grammar,  and  on  some  secu- 
lar sciences,  most  of  which  are  trustworthy.  In  his  Sefer 
ha-Emiinot,  however,  he  wrote  certain  things  which  are  not 
acceptable,  and  a  pious  man  should  not  follow  them."  °** 
Meiri,  unfortunately,  did  not  point  out  the  objectionable  pas- 
sages he  had  in  mind.  Finally,  we  should  mention  one  more 
author  who  expressed  his  admiration  for  the  Gaon.     It  is 

'*'»  ^^l^  (ed.  Hague),  24a.  For  Palquera  see  Malter,  JQR.,  N.  S., 
vol.  I  (1910-1911),  pp.  151-185,  451-501.  For  Palquera's  designation 
of  the  Mutakallimun  as  ^PnOPI  "•ODPI  see  Steinschneider,  Jezmsh 
Literature,  pp.  296,  310;  comp.  Delitzsch,  D''"'n  YV,  pp.  311,  f. 

'"'ni^VJnnn  nriD,  "Letter  of  Defence,"  printed  in  Solomon  b. 
Adret's  Responsa,  I  (Bologna,  1539),  no.  418;  also  separately,  under 
the  title  Dl^^'JUn  T\'^^^,  with  notes  by  Samson  Bloch,  Lemberg,  1809; 
comp.  Renan,  Les  ecrivains  juifs  frangais  du  XIV^  siecle  (volume 
XXXI  of  the  Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France),  Paris,  1893,  pp.  377- 
382. 

"^rrr'n^n  n''^,  or  Commentary  on  Pirke  Abot,  edited  by  Stern, 
Vienna,  1854,  Introduction,  p.  i6b;  comp.  Dukes,  D^DHP  ^HJ,  p.  25. 


SAADIA'S  INFLUENCE  ON  LATER  GENERATIONS    281 

the  Italian  Jewish  bard  Moses  b.  Isaac  of  Rieti  (died  1457), 
the  so-called  "  Dante  Ebreo,"  who  in  his  Hebrew  imitation  of 
the  "  Divina  Comedia  "  assigns  to  Saadia  a  place  of  honor 
in  the  fancied  paradise.  As  a  merit  of  Saadia  he  points  out 
"  his  books  and  polemics  against  dissenters,  which  brought 
light  into  darkness."  ^^^ 

A  search  through  mediaeval  Jewish  literature  would  no 
doubt  reveal  a  large  number  of  similar  appreciations  of 
Saadia  Gaon  and  his  writings  on  the  part  of  later  authors. 
There  is  no  need,  however,  of  multiplying  such  testimony; 
the  few  examples  quoted  show  sufficiently  the  high  place  ac- 
corded to  Saadia  by  the  greatest  thinkers  of  subsequent 
centuries.''*' 

Among  the  numerous  rabbinical  authors  of  the  Middle 
Ages  only  one  is  known,  who  saw  in  Saadia  an  innovator  and 
promulgator  of  heterodox  ideas  and  therefore  spoke  of  him 
disparagingly.  This  one  is  the  learned  zealot  Moses  b. 
Hisdai  Ipn,  i.  e.  of  Tachau,  Bohemia,  or,  as  recently  as- 
serted,"^^^  of  Tackau,  near  Erfurt,  Germany  (about  1170- 
1230).  Moses  Tachau,  who  was  a  recognized  Talmudic 
authority  and  also  a  liturgist  of  some  standing,'*'*  wrote  a 
book  under  the  name  of  D^DD  nriD,  of  which  only  a  part  has 
been  preserved.^'*     The  work  is  directed  both  against  the 

'"^ViVKi  ^1?D,  ed.  Goldenthal,  Vienna,  1851,  p.  95a;  comp.  Dukes, 
ibidem,  p.  4. 

^^  See  also  Saadia  Ibn  Danan  (about  1470),  in  the  collection  mDIl 
nT"lJ:i,  edited  by  Edelmann,  Konigsberg,  1856,  p.  28  (mostly  taken  from 
Abraham  Ibn  Baud's  n^SPH  110;  comp.  Steinschneider,  Geschichts- 
literatur  der  Juden,  §  81). 

^"  Tycocinsky,  in  MGWJ.,  1910,  pp.  70  ff.  The  author  raises  some 
doubts  as  to  the  identity  of  Moses  b.  Hisdai  and  Moses  IPD.  We 
deal  here  with  the  D''Dn  ^DD,  whoever  its  author.  Comp.  J.  N. 
Epstein,  REJ.  LXI,  60  ff. 

°**Zunz,  Literaturgeschichte  der  synagogalen  Poesie,  pp.  315-317; 
Landshuth  muyn  moy,  p.  223.  The  JE.,  s.  v.  "  Moses  Taku,"  has 
a  crossi  reference  to  "  Taku  Moses,"  but  there  is  no  such  article. 

"^Published  by  R.  Kirchheim  in  the  periodical  IDH:  1V1«,  II 
(t86o),  54-99,  comp.  Steinschneider,  HB.,  Ill,  ^2\  Hebrdische  Ueber- 
setzungen,  pp.  442. 


282  SAADIA  GAON 

philosophers  and  the  mystics,^  who  interpret  Haggadic 
passages  of  the  Talmud  relating  to  God,  angels,  resurrection, 
and  the  like  as  figures  of  speech  or  symbols.  The  author 
accepts  even  the  most  extravagant  anthropomorphisms  in 
their  literal  sense.  He  pours  out  his  wrath  on  Saadia,  whom 
he  declares  responsible  for  all  the  mischief  done  by  the  Jew- 
ish philosophers  in  falsifying  the  words  of  the  Torah  and 
the  Rabbis.  '*  I  deplore,"  he  says  "  the  damage  done  by  the 
Sefer  ha-Emilndt.  It  brought  us  the  secular  sciences  and 
increased  the  evils,  weaning  away  the  multitude  from  sin- 
cere piety ;  casting  doubts  on  everything,  so  that  the  people 
do  not  know  where  they  stand  ;  strengthening  the  hands  of 
the  scientists,  who  have  a  grudge  against  the  teachings  of 
our  Rabbis,  which  are  perfect,  and  setting  in  the  place  of 
the  latter  the  empty  talk  of  the  former."  ^^  Referring  to 
philosophic  authors  as  a  class,  he  says  mockingly :  "  They 
all  feed  on  the  wisdom  of  the  Sefer  ha-'Emunot^^  leaving 
out  things  and  adding  others  and  writing  books  and  dis- 
courses on  many  topics  and  on  the  reasons  of  prophecy. 
Indeed,  prior  to  Saadia  nobody  dared  give  new  interpreta- 
tions, which  deviate  from  the  plain  sense  of  the  Scriptures 
and  from  the  trustworthy  and  well-established  words  of 
our  Rabbis.*"'^  It  is  the  physicians  and  astronomers  "*'*  that 
despise  our  learning  and  those  that  adhere  to  it."    In  another 

"""  See  below,  note  615. 

^"^  Ozar  Nechmad,  II,  64,  top ;  see  also  below,  note  604. 

^"^ Ibidem,  p.  68,  top;  comp.  p.  65,  1.  11. 

^''^  Further  on  (p.  75,  1.  11)  he  accuses  Saadia,  on  rather  trivial 
grounds,  of  having  tyrannized  over  the  people  and  forced  on  them 
"  a  new  Torah,  unheard  of  since  the  days  of  Adam."  Tachau  feels 
particularly  provoked  by  the  Gaon's  opposition  to  the  Talmud,  in 
proof  of  which  he  points  out  numerous  passages  in  Saadia's  Com- 
mentary on  the  Sefer  Yezirah  and  his  Emunot;  see  pp.  74,  where 
niJItDt?  (1.  13)  is  a  mistake  for  ''''DD,  and  93  f.;  above,  notes  462, 
5oga,  518. 

^*  By  "  physicians  and  astronomers  "  he  derogatorily  designates  all 
those  who  follow  scientific  methods  in  their  studies,  though  they  had 
nothing  to  do  with  these  disciplines.  Thus,  in  the  passage  referred  to 
above  (note  601)  the  Hebrew  expression  for  "scientists"  is  ^"llin 
D^OK'    (Isaiah,  47.  13),  which  is  commonly  translated  by  astrologers. 


SAADIA'S  INFLUENCE  ON  LATER  GENERATIONS    283 

connection ''"'  he  quotes  a  "  Commentary  on  Chronicles,"  ^*"' 
according  to  which  Saadia  was  imprisoned  for  thirteen 
years.  In  the  prison,  Moses  assumes,  he  must  have  come  in 
contact  with  non-Jewish  scholars  with  whom  he  had  relig- 
ious disputes,  so  that  certain  ideas  became  fixed  in  his 
mind  and  were  maintained  by  him  later  on.  "  There  he  got 
also  into  the  habit  of  grandiloquence,  trying  to  force  the 
multitude  into  his  ways  of  thinking  by  high  metaphors  and 
"  fourfold  "  repetitions  of  one  and  the  same  thought — yes,  he 
might  have  written  in  five  tracts  (pDIDJIP)  what  he  wrote 
in  fifteen."  *"''    To  refute  Saadia's  theories  the  author  quotes 


''"  Ozar  Nechmad,  II,  69,  11.  8  ff. 

*"^  The  Commentary  here  referred  to  was  published  by  Kirchheim, 
Frankfurt  a/M.,  1874,  and  the  passage  quoted  by  Tachau  is  on  p.  36. 
For  further  details  on  the  Commentary,  which  is  ascribed  to  a  pupil 
of  Saadia,  see  the  Bibliography,  p.  327.  Regarding  the  story  of 
Saadia's  imprisonment  for  thirteen  years,  quoted  by  Tachau  from 
that  Commentary,  see  the  references  in  L.  Bardowicz,  Die  Abfas- 
simgs;:;ett  der  Baraita  der  32  Normen,  Berlin,  1913,  p.  80,  n.  29 ;  comp. 
Steinschneider,  H.  B.,  Ill,  62. 

®°^  It  may  be  noted  that  charges  of  diffuseness  and  verbosity  were 
brought  against  Saadia  also  by  authors  who  were  no  antagonists  of 
his.  Thus  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,  in  his  fondness  for  puns,  plays  on  the 
words  D''iyti^  and  ^'\V^,  saying  that  the  Sefer  ha-Enmnot  contains 
chapters  of  limitless  length  :  DlJIOS^n  1SD  nnn  HnVD  IJll  jINJni 
Vim^  myt^  pXtJ^  Dny^  nt:^^  (t^niD  -nD\  chapter  i,  end)  ;  comp. 
also  his  censure  of  Saadia's  longwinded  methods  in  Bible  exe- 
gesis at  the  beginning  of  his  Introduction  to  his  Commentary  on 
Genesis.  Still  harsher  is  his  criticism  of  the  Gaon  in  his  Short  Com- 
mentary on  Exodus  (23.  20)  ;  see  Reggio  and  Luzzatto  in  Kerem 
Chcmed,  IV,  104  ff.,  136  f.  The  famous  Hebrew  satirist  Immanuel 
of  Rome  (1270-1330),  poking  fun  at  a  very  tall  man,  says,  "Mr. 
Soandso  is  as  tall  as  Saadia's  works  are  long."  (ni^SHO,  V,  ed. 
Lemberg,  1870,  p.  42),  which  hardly  refers  to  the  "  large  number  "  of 
the  Gaon's  works,  as  suggested  by  Steinschneider,  HB.,  XIII,  p.  62, 
n.  7;  comp,  Dukes,  Beitrdge,  II,  78.  Berechiah  ha-Nakdan,  the  epito- 
mizer  of  Saadia's  Emunot  (see  the  Bibliography,  p.  361),  in  his 
^IVD  (edited  by  Gollancz,  London,  1902),  p.  141,  1.  6,  likewise  al- 
ludes to  Saadia's  diffuseness  (P^D  niD"'1t?)  ;  see,  however,  Bacher 
(Abraham  Ibn  Ezra's  Einleitung  au  seinem  P entateu ch-C ommentar , 
Vienna,  1876,  p,  19),  who,  with  Dukes,  repudiates  these  charges  as 
unfounded. 


284  SAADIA  GAON 

numerous  passages  from  his  Commentary  on  the  Sefer 
Yezirah,^^  especially  from  the  Emundt,  each  time  adding 
some  slighting  comment.  Tachau's  method  of  criticism  is 
best  illustrated  by  the  passage  in  which  he  attacks  Saadia 
for  having  declared  the  statement  of  the  Talmud,  that  besides 
this  world  God  created  eighteen  thousand  other  worlds,  to 
be  the  opinion  of  an  individual  teacher,  which  was  not 
generally  accepted.^"^  "  What  an  ignoramus,"  he  exclaims, 
"Of  the  w^ords  of  an  'Amora  revealed  by  holy  inspiration 
and  derived  from  tradition  we  are  to  say  that  they  were  not 
agreed  to  by  all  Israel?  But  who  has  agreed  to  his  worth- 
less talk?"^"*  In  this  strain  he  argues  against  many  other 
points,  and  on  one  occasion  even  expresses  his  doubt  as  to 
the  authenticity  of  the  Sefer  ha-'Emunot,^^  because  the  copy 
which  he  happened  to  use  did  not  bear  Saadia's  name.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  Judah  b.  Barzillai,  who  quotes  the 

As  to  the  exceptions  taken  to  the  Emunot  in  particular,  they  are 
due,  I  believe,  in  most  part  to  the  fact  that  the  critics  (Berechiah, 
Moses  Tachau,  probably  also  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,  in  whose  time  the 
Arabic  original  was  already  very  rare)  read  the  work  in  the  so-called 
Hebrew  Paraphrase,  which  indeed  has  no  parallel  as  regards  turgidity 
and  windy  phraseology.  The  stricture  of  Meiri  (above,  note  594) 
is  based  on  purely  religious  grounds.  On  the  other  hand  Abraham 
Ibn  Daud  (1161),  while  recognizing  the  great  merits  of  the  work  in 
general,  declares  that  upon  investigation  he  found  it  to  be  inade- 
quate for  his  purposes :  p^DDD  iniJt?:^o  t?^  inijnpn  ntj^xD  djdx 
U^  inVtJ'  HD^  (non  nJ1D«,  p.  2) ;  comp.  above,  note  310.  Ibn  Daud, 
however,  borrowed  many  essential  points  of  his  own  system  from 
the  work  of  Saadia;  comp.  for  details  Guttmann,  Die  Religionsphi- 
losophie  des  Abraham  Ibn  Daud,  Gottingen,  1879,  P-  12.  A  much 
later  author,  Moses  Ibn  Habib  (about  1500),  likewise  attributed  little 
value  to  the  Emunot;  see  above,  note  485.  For  the  attitude  of 
Diinash  Ibn  Tamim  to  Saadia  see  above,  note  75.  For  Ibn  Bal'am 
see  note  584. 

'°^  See  the  Bibliography,  p.  358. 

®**^The  passage  here  referred  to  by  Tachau  is  in  Saadia's  Com- 
mentary on  the  Sefer  Yezirah,  p.  5,  bottom   (Lambert,  pp.  19  f.). 

^^^  Ozar  Nechmad,  II,  70,  top;  comp.  also  above,  note  509a. 

^'^  Ozar  Nechmad,  II,  79;  comp.  p.  96,  1.  6;  Steinschneider,  Hebra- 
ische  Uebersetzungen,  p.  442. 


SAADIA'S  INFLUENCE  ON  LATER  GENERATIONS    285 

same  passage  about  the  eighteen  thousand  worlds,*"^  finds 
nothing  wrong  therein  except  that  Saadia,  relying  on  his 
memory,  happened  to  misquote  part  of  the  Talmudic  pas- 
sage, a  stricture  without  bearing  on  the  question  at  issue. 
It  should  finally  be  remarked  that  while  our  author  directs 
his  arrows  mainly  against  Saadia,  "  the  first  to  speculate 
about  the  creations  of  God,"  ^  he  is  no  less  opposed  to  all 
whom  he  considers  followers  and  admirers  of  the  Gaon. 
Even  Hai  Gaon^"  and  men  like  the  pious  mystic  Judah 
Hasid,^'  he  finds,  were  under  the  influence  of  the  Sefer  ha- 
'Emunot;  but  he  naturally  shows  more  animosity  against 
Maimonides  and  especially  against  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,  who 
"  was  always  accompanied  by  demons."  *"*  All  this  goes  to 
show  that  even  in  the  strictly  orthodox  circles  of  twelfth 
century  Jewry,  Saadia  was  known  as  the  founder  and  origin- 
ator of  that  critical,  scientific  epoch  in  Jewish  literature 
which  so  disturbed  the  mentality  of  men  like  Moses  Tachau. 
Of  special  significance  for  a  correct  appreciation  of  the 
authority  and  importance  attached  by  his  contemporaries  and 
successors  to  Saadia's  works,  is  the  fact  that  some  of  them 


'"'n'T'V^  IQD  tJ^nS,  ed.  Halberstam,  Berlin,  1885,  p.  174. 

"'  Osar  Nechmad,  II,  77. 

^*  Ibidem,  p.  92;  Tachau  has  in  mind  a  Responsum  of  Hai  which 
was  published  by  Eliezer  Ashkenazi  in  D^JpT  DytD,  Frankfurt  a/M. 
1854,  PP-  59  ff-  The  whole  Responsum,  with  the  exception  of  the 
"Questions"  discussed  below  {Bibliography,  pp.  365  f.),  is  indeed, 
as  suggested  by  Tachau,  taken  without  acknowledgment  from 
Saadia's  Emunot;  see  above,  note  578;  Bacher,  in  Steinschneider's 
Festschrift,  p.  225. 

^'Ibidem,  pp.  73,  95,  and  passim;  comp.  the  Bibliography,  p.  362, 
no.  I. 

'"  Ibidem,  p.  97 ;  Ibn  Ezra,  Tachau  reports,  denied  the  existence  of 
demons,  but  the  latter  proved  to  him  that  they  do  exist;  for  once 
Ibn  Ezra  was  riding  through  a  forest  in  England,  when  a  pack  of 
black  dogs,  which  in  reality  were  demons,  suddenly  appeared  before 
him  and  their  fierce  eyes  frightened  him  so  that  he  died  soon  after ; 
comp.  Steinschneider,  HB.,  Ill,  62;  idem,  Abraham  Ibn  Esra  (in 
Supplement  zur  historisch-literarischen  Abtheihmg  der  Zeitschrift 
fiir  Mathematik  und  Physik,  1880),  pp.  81  f. 


286  SAADIA  GAON 

became  known  in  European  countries,  even  among  the 
Franco-German  Jews,  at  a  very  early  period.  Numerous 
scholars  of  the  eleventh  century  in  France,  Germany, 
and  other  non-Arabic  countries,  quote  Saadia  directly  or 
indirectly,  or  show  familiarity  with  his  views.  Among  them 
may  be  instanced  Rashi,^"'  perhaps  also  his  precursor  Moses 
Darshan  of  Narbonne,"^  Nathan  b.  Jehiel  of  Rome,  author 
of  the  'Ariik^^^  and  Tobiah  b.  Eliezer  of  Castoria  in  Bulgaria, 
author  of  the  Midrash  "  Lekah  Tob." ''"  During  the  twelfth 
century  Saadia's  influence  becomes  general  in  all  branches  of 
Jewish  literature,  even  in  the  works  of  authors  who  show  a 
decided  tendency  toward  asceticism  and  mysticism,  as  Judah 
Hasid  ^^  and  his  disciple  Eleazar  of  Worms.""    The  leading 

"^  For  quotations  of  Saadia  in  the  commentaries  of  Rashi  see 
Reifmann's  note,  in  D^JIOIP  D-iJlt^a  n^  ^tJ^VD  r':^'\P,  edited  by 
Rosenberg,  Berlin,  1856,  p.  53;  comp.  Rapoport,  DTlJ/n  ^^Dl,  1828, 
p.  35,  bottom ;  p.  36,  n.  43 ;  Dukes,  Beitr'dge,  II,  p.  98,  n.  9 ;  Geiger, 
NmJti^lQ,  p.  7   (of  Hebrew  part)  ;  Harkavy,  Ha-Goren,  I,  89. 

^'See  Epstein,  n:ini:n  jti^mn  r\^^  'n,  Vienna,  1891  (comp. 
Neubauer,  JQR.,  IV,  157),  p.  46,  where  the  interpretation  of  Eccl., 
3.  21,  appears  to  be  based  on  that  of  Saadia,  Kitah  al-Amdndt,  pp.  192, 
194  (Emilnot,  Leipzig,  1864,  pp.  96,  98,  top)  ;  comp.  above,  note  502. 

®^'  'Aruk,  s.  vv.*l?on  and  nJV;  comp.  Oeuvres  completes  de  Saadia, 
IX,  167,  nos.  no,  III.  From  a  remark  in  the  latter  passage  (5 "11 
a"D13  ti>1D)  it  would  seem  that  Rabbenu  Gershom,  too,  (died  in 
Mayence,  1040)  was  acquainted  with  some  of  the  writings  of  Saadia. 

®^  See  Buber's  Introduction  to  his  edition  of  this  Midrash  (Wilna, 
1884),  pp.  II,  22,  no.  29;  comp.  J.  Nacht,  Tohia  hen  Eliese/s  Com- 
mentar  zu  Threni,  Berlin,  1895,  PP-  6  f . ;  30,  n.  123. 

^  See  the  Bibliography,  p.  362,  no.  i ;  comp.  also  note  615. 

*^  Comp.  Steinschneider,  HB.,  Ill,  62;  idem,  Abraham  Ihn  Esra 
(as  quoted  above,  note  616),  p.  82,  n.  84;  Dukes,  D''Dnp  ^rtJ,  p.  24, 
note;  Geiger,  Parschandatha,  p.  50;  above,  note  491.  Mystics  of 
later  ages  were  particularly  attracted  by  Saadia's  Commentary  on 
the  Sefer  Yesirah.  Eleazar's  Commentary  on  that  book  is  based  on 
that  of  Saadia;  comp.  Jellinek,  n^lpH  nODH  ""TJ^,  German  part, 
p.  21 ;  above,  note  491.  Even  Kabbalists  like  Abraham  Abulafia 
(13th  c.)  availed  themselves  of  Saadia's  philosophic  teachings.  Thu'; 
the  latter's  doctrine  as  to  the  sources  of  human  understanding  (see 
above,  p.  195,)  is  tacitly  adopted  by  Abulafia;  comp.  Jellinek,  ib., 
p.  29;  above,  note  592.     By  virtue  of  a  false  attribution  to  Saadia 


SAADIA'S  INFLUENCE  ON  LATER  GENERATIONS    287 

Halakists  of  the  time,  like  Eliezer  b.  Nathan  of  Mayence,*"^ 
Jacob  Tarn  of  Ramerupt,  grandson  of  Rashi,  and  some  of  the 
Tosafists,^*  refer  to  him  as  to  one  of  the  most  authoritative 
Geonic  sources.  A  thirteenth  century  author,^'^  in  the  name 
of  the  aforementioned  R.  Jacob  Tarn,  quotes  the  sentence, 
"  R.  Saadia,  on  the  words  of  whose  mouth  we  live  and  who 
handed  the  secret  of  the  calendar  down  to  us." 

Through  what  channels  the  various  Jewish  authors  of 
European  countries  outside  of  Spain  became  acquainted  with 
the  writings  of  Saadia,  or  with  his  teachings,  cannot  always 
be  ascertained.  Some  of  these  authors,  Hke  Rashi,  his 
contemporary  Joseph  Kara,  Joseph  Bekor  Shor  (12th  cen- 
tury) and  others,  certainly  knew  no  Arabic,  and  all  the  quo- 
tations of  Saadia  found  in  their  writings,  as  they  often  state 
explicitly,  are  based  on  hearsay,  or  are  taken  from  the 
Hebrew  works  of  authors  who  understood  the  Arabic  lan- 
guage and  drew  upon  the  original  sources.^^^     Others,  like 

of  another,  mystic,  commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yecirah  (see  the 
Bibliography,  VIII,  p.  404)  some  of  the  later  admirers  of  the  Kab- 
balah even  acclaimed  the  Gaon  as  their  own,  crediting  him  with  a 
device  for  the  creation  of  a  homunculus  by  means  of  certain  manipu- 
lations with  the  alphabet.  So  Judah  Moscato  in  his  commentary  to 
the  Kuzari  (miiT'  ^1P),  IV,  §  25  (ed.  Wilna,  1905,  p.  94,  bottom) 
and  Joseph  Solomon  Delmedigo,  HD^n^  *1*1VD,  Basle,  1629,  fols. 
gb,  20  a.  The  passage  quoted  by  them  as  proof  is  found  in  the  spuri- 
ous Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yezirah  (II,  §  4)  marching  under 
Saadia's  name ;  comp.  below,  note,  660. 

*^l"lt<*1,  no.  119;  comp.  Halberstam,  in  his  edition  of  Judah  b. 
Barzillai's  Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yezirah,  Berlin,  1885,  p.  309, 
1.  13;  JE.,  V,  118;  S.  Hurwitz,  Introduction  to  ntD^  nnno,  p.  46; 
see  above,  note  418. 

^  See  e.  g.  Miiller,  Oeuvres  IX,  157,  no.  J^),  also  the  Tosafists 
mentioned  below,  notes  62,6,  639.  For  Aaron  b.  Meshullam  of  Lunel 
(1200)  see  the  Bibliography,  p.  368. 

'"Zedekiah  b.  Abraham  Anaw,  in  his  ritualistic  work  tDP^'H  '^'?1^, 
ed.  Buber,  Wilna,  1886,  no.  28;  comp.  Rapoport  D^DVn  niDl,  IX,  29, 
n.  23;  Bornstein,  :i''D1  np^no,  p.  25,  n.  i. 

^^Geiger,  Parschandatha  (Hebrew),  pp.  6-16.  For  Joseph  Bekor 
Shor  see  ibidem,  p.  50;  Poznanski,  Kommentar  su  Ezechiel — von 
Eliezer  aus  Beaugency,  Warsaw,  1914,  Introduction,  p.  Ixvi,  n.  i ; 
p.  227,  note  on  pp.  Ixiv ;  p.  228,  note  on  p.  Ixxxviii. 


288  SAADIA  GAON 

Moses  Darshaii,""  Nathan  b.  Jechiel,^'  and  perhaps  also 
Tobiah  b.  Eliezer,*""  knew  the  language  of  the  Arabs  and 
may  have  used  or  quoted  Saadia  directly.  But  whatever 
the  case  may  have  been  as  regards  individual  authors,  we  can- 
not explain  the  general  deference  paid  to  his  authority  except 
by  assuming — and  this  is  what  I  wish  to  bring  out  here — that 
some  of  Saadia's  works  were  translated  into  Hebrew,  either 
in  part  or  in  whole,  long  before  the  period  of  the  Tibbonides, 
though  most  of  those  translations  are  lost.  Thus  Judah 
b.  Barzillai,  at  the  close  of  the  eleventh  century,  made  use 
in  his  Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yesirah  of  two  or  three 
different  Hebrew  translations  of  Saadia's  Arabic  Com- 
mentary on  the  same  book.*^  These  translations  dififer  from 
that  of  one  Moses  b.  Joseph  of  Lucena,  whose  date  is  uncer- 
tain, but  probably  prior  to  1148.*^  The  famous  fabuHst  Bere- 
chiah  ha-Nakdan,*"^  whose  date  has  likewise  not  been  defi- 

•"See  Rapoport's  Biography  of  Nathan  b.  Jechiel  (V'^HDn.  X) , 
note  47;  Epstein,  Moses  ha-  Darschan,  Vienna,  1891,  p.  8. 

•'^^  Rapoport,  Biography,  note  14. 

""^Comp.  nit:  np^  tm»,  on  Exodus,  ed.  Buber,  p.  188,  n.  4; 
Buber's  Introduction,  p.  36,  line  3;  Rapoport,  Biography  of  Hat  Gaon 
(V"T\'2'2,  X),  note  16,  refers  to  a  passage  in  Tobiah's  Midrash,  which 
is  taken  from  an  Arabic  Responsum  of  Hai. 

"^  See  the  Bibliography,  p.  357. 

'^^  Steinschneider,  Hebrdische  Uebersetzungen,  p.  444;  his  doubts  as 
to  the  priorty  of  the  translator  Moses  to  the  year  1148,  when  the 
Jewish  community  was  expelled  from  the  city,  are  not  sufficiently 
founded.  The  style  and  strange  terminology  of  the  translation 
(MS.  copy  of  the  late  Halberstam,  now  in  the  Jewish  Theological 
Seminary  of  America  in  New  York)  may  rather  be  looked  upon  as 
a  proof  that  the  author  lived  prior  to  the  period  of  translators 
inaugurated  by  the  Tibbonides,  in  1167. 

*^*  ?nVfD  (ed.  Gollancz,  London,  1902),  p.  118,  1.  5  from  below  to 
p.  119,  1.  21,  which,  with  some  deviations,  corresponds  to  Saadia's 
text,  ed.  Lambert,  p.  18,  1.  16  to  p.  20,  1.  3.  So  far  as  I  know  this 
passage  escaped  the  notice  of  scholars.  For  the  question  of  the  time 
and  country  of  Berechiah  and  his  knowledge  of  Arabic,  which  are 
still  disputed,  the  origin  of  the  Hebrew  translation  of  this  passage 
is  of  great  importance,  and  its  identification  would  eventually  solve 
the  problems.  A  comparison  of  Berechiah  with  Moses  of  Lucena 
shows  convincingly  that  the  authors  are  independent  of  each  other; 
see  the  Bibliography,  p.  358. 


SAADIA'S  INFLUENCE  ON  LATER  GENERATIONS    289 

nitely  established,  some  placing  him  in  the  twelfth,  others 
in  the  thirteenth  century,'^''  and  the  Talmudist  Moses  Ta- 
chau  (around  1200)/'*  quote  lengthy  passages  from  Hebrew 
translations  of  that  Commentary  of  Saadia's,  each  one  of 
which  differs  from  those  mentioned  before. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  Commentary  here  discussed,  so  also  in 
that  of  Saadia's  great  philosophic  work,  the  Kitdb  al- 
'Amdndt,  we  possess  more  than  one  Hebrew  translation. 
Aside  from  the  one  prepared  in  1186  by  Judah  Ibn  Tibbon  of 
Lunel,  generally  known  under  the  title  'Emunot  we-Deot, 
there  is  also  an  anonymous  Hebrew  version  written  in  a  very 
peculiar  style,  which  resembles  closely  that  of  the  liturgical 
compositions  of  Eleazar  Kalir  and  others.  Much  thought 
has  been  spent  in  the  attempt  to  find  out  something  definite 
about  the  author,  the  time  and  the  country  of  this  as  yet  un- 
printed  version,  or  rather  paraphrase,  of  Saadia's  work.*^'  A 
colophon  in  one  of  the  MSS.  shows  the  date  1095,  but  it  is 
doubtful  whether  this  is  the  date  of  the  translator  or  of  the 
copyist.  At  any  rate  we  have  here  the  work  of  an  author, 
who  lived  in  the  eleventh  century,  if  not  earlier.  In  spite  of 
the  obscurity  of  its  payyetanic  phraseology,  or  perhaps  be- 
cause of  it,  precisely  this  version  of  the  Arabic  original  and 
not  that  of  Ibn  Tibbon,  became  widely  known  among  the  Jews 
of  France,  Germany,  and  other  European  countries.  This 
is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  aforementioned  Berechiah 
ha-Nakdan  issued  the  whole  work  in  an  abridged  form, 
and  otherwise  '^^  made  extensive  use  of  its  contents ;  that 
Moses  Tachau,  the  Spaniard  Jacob  b.  Reuben,  the  mystic 
Judah  he-Hasid  of  Ratisbon,  and  the  Tosafist  Samson  b. 
Abraham  of  Sens,  all  authors  of  the  twelfth  century,  quote 

^  See  Gollancz,  The  Ethical  Treatise  of  Berachya,  Introduction ; 
Jacobs,  JE.,  II,  54. 

^^*  See  the  Bibliography,  p.  358,  and  above,  pp.  281  ff. 

®''For  further  details  see  the  Bibliography,  p.  360. 

^®  Berechiah's  work  in  the  publication  of  Gollancz  consists  of  two 
treatises,  the  one  of  which  is  the  epitome  of  Saadia's  Emundt,  and 
the  other,  under  the  name  of  ^IVD,  is  a  compilation  from  the  works 
of  various  authors,  among  them  Saadia. 

19 


290  SAADIA  GAON 

lengthy  passages  therefrom/^*''  and  that  throughout  the 
Middle  Ages  entire  chapters  ^^  of  the  work  were  current  in 
Germany,  France,  and  Italy  as  separate  books. 

That  the  Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yezlrah  and  the  Kitdh 
al-Amanat,  both  belonging  under  the  category  of  religious 
philosophy,  were  not  the  only  ones  of  Saadia's  works  that 
reached  the  Franco-German  Jews  of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
centuries  in  Hebrew  translation,  hardly  requires  proof. 
Saadia's  Halakic  and  liturgical  writings,  for  instance,  were 
known  very  early  to  Talmudic  authors  in  Christian  countries, 
as  is  evident  from  the  numerous  quotations  collected  from 
their  works  several  years  ago.^  It  may  be  admitted  that 
some  of  these  authors  understood  Arabic,  and  were  thus  in 
a  position  to  use  the  originals,  while  others  may  have  derived 
their  knowledge  of  the  contents  from  Tewish-x\rabic  scholars 
with  whom  they  came  in  contact.*''^  It  is  hazardous,  how- 
ever, to  be  satisfied  with  so  narrow  a  basis  for  the  com- 
paratively wide  diffusion  of  Saadia's  Halakic  views  among 
scholars  who  were  not  acquainted  with  Arabic.  iMuch  more 
probable  is  it  that  some  of  Saadia's  treatises  on  Talmudic 
literature  as  well  as  his  Halakic  disquisitions  on  questions  of 
liturgy,  which  he  had  embodied  in  his  Ritual-Order  (Sid- 
dur),  were  current  in  Hebrew  translations.  Their  non- 
existence at  the  present  time  proves  nothing  against  this 
assumption.  Nearly  all  of  the  Arabic  originals  are  also 
lost,  whereas  quite  a  number  of  Saadia's  Arabic  Responsa 
exist  only  in  Hebrew  versions,  of  whose  makers  but  one  is 

^'®*  See  for  these  authors  the  Bibliography,  pp.  368,  362,  no.  i,  365, 
respectivel3\  According  to  Steinschneider  {HB.,  XVIII,  (^)  the 
Introduction  of  the  Tosafist  Samuel  of  Falaise  to  his  DlVOn  *1DD 
(Vatican  MS.  no.  429)  is  that  of  Saadia  to  the  Emunot,  but  he  does 
not  state  which  translation  was  used. 

•^^  See  the  Bibliography,  pp.  362  fif. 

"^Miiller,  Oeuvres,  IX,  145-173;  Israelsohn,  REJ.,  XXII,  295. 

°^  Comp.  for  instance  Samson  b.  Abraham  of  Sens  in  Dt^DD 
5'"'«D"1^«  (ed.  Brill,  Paris,  1871),  p.  136.  The  Dnnnno  THt^  to  whom 
Samson  refers  is  probably  the  same  Abraham  b.  Nathan  (see  next 
note)  mentioned  there,  p.  107,  as  the  carrier  of  Samson's  letter; 
comp.  Bibliography,  p.  365. 


SAADIA'S  INFLUENCE  ON  LATER  GENERATIONS    291 

known  by  name.*""  All  this  merely  corroborates  what  is 
partly  known  through  other  evidence,  that  in  the  centuries 
following  close  upon  that  of  Saadia  there  was  a  lively  ex- 
change of  ideas  between  the  Jews  living  under  Muham- 
medan  rule  and  those  living  in  Christian  countries,  and 
that  the  latter  were  anxiously  endeavoring  to  acquaint 
themselves  with  the  literary  products  of  the  former.  For 
this  purpose  they  sought  scholars  with  a  sufficient  knowledge 
of  Arabic  to  be  able  to  interpret  to  them  orally  the  contents 
of  works  written  in  that  language  or  to  prepare  for  them 
written  translations.  We  may  therefore  take  it  for  granted 
that  Saadia's  grammatical  and  exegetical  works,  or  at  least 
some  of  his  numerous  Biblical  commentaries,  soon  became 
known  among  European  Jews.  This  was  brought  about  not 
only  by  Hebrew  translations  of  whole  works,  or,  what  is 
more  probable,  of  special  parts  and  chapters  in  which  certain 
scholars  happened  to  be  particularly  interested,  but  also  by 
occasional  long  excerpts  embodied  in  the  works  of  Hebrew 
autliors,  such  as  we  find  in  Judah  b.  Barzillai's  Commentary 
on  the  Sefer  Yezirah  and  in  the  Hebrew  works  of  some 
Karaite  authors. °*^ 

That  the  works  of  Saadia  in  all  branches  of  learning  were 
eagerly  studied  by  the  Oriental,  North  African,  and  Spanish 
Jews  soon  after  their  appearance  and  in  subsequent  cen- 
turies, need  not  be  proved  in  detail.^*^  The  Geonim  Hai  and 
Samuel  b.  Hophni,  especially  the  latter,  modelled  their  entire 
literary  activity  after  that  of  Saadia ;  the  scholars  of  North- 
em  Africa,  such  as  Jacob  b.  Nissim  and  his  son  Nissim, 
Hananel  b.  Hushiel,  Diinash  Ibn  Tamim,  and  Isaac  Alfasi, 

*^  Abraham  b.  Nathan  of  Lunel  (1204)  who  translated  one  Re- 
sponsum ;  comp.  Steinschneider,  Hehrdische  Uehersetzungen,  pp.  909, 
935,  n.  217;  Cassel,  in  Zunz's  Juhelschrift,  pp.  125,  131. 

*"  See  the  Bibliography,  pp.  320,  346,  no.  4,  356  ff. 

•^The  traveller  Petahiah  of  Ratisbon  (1180)  relates  that  in 
passing  through  Babylonia  he  found  the  Jews  studying  the  Bible  and 
the  six  orders  of  the  Mishnah  with  the  commentaries  of  Saadia; 
comp.  Graetz,  Geschichte,  V  (4th  ed.),  531;  above,  note  359,  where 
further  references  are  given. 


292  SAADIA  GAON 

undoubtedly  were  familiar  with  the  writings  of  the  Gaon, 
and  made  use  of  them,  each  one  in  his  chosen  field,  whether 
we  find  direct  quotations  in  their  works  or  not.'"  As  to 
Jewish-Spanish  authors  no  names  need  be  mentioned. 
There  is  hardly  an  author  of  an  original  work  who  did  not 
draw  upon  the  rich  treasures  in  the  writings  of  Saadia. 
Many  advanced  far  beyond  his  theories  in  various  fields 
of  research,  and,  as  frequently  happened,  even  criticised 
them  very  severely;  but  despite  opposition  and  criticism 
he  was  always  recognized  as  the  first  expounder  of  Jewish 
thought,  the  master  whose  keys  had  opened  the  gates  of 
scientific  research. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  Saadia  had  also  a  large  num- 
ber of  personal  pupils,  who  spread  his  teachings  by  word  of 
mouth  and  in  writing.  We  have  seen  that  even  as  a  very 
young  man,  while  still  in  Egypt,  he  had  gathered  around  him 
a  circle  of  friends  and  disciples,  who  recognized  him  as 
their  authority,  and  remained  faithful  to  him  many  years 
after  his  departure  from  his  native  country.***  Later,  when 
he  was  made  the  head  of  the  Suran  Academy,  he  became 
ipso  facto  the  spiritual  guide  and  teacher  of  all  the  scholars 
of  the  institution.  Unfortunately,  only  a  very  few  of 
Saadia's  immediate  disciples  have  become  known  by  name. 
Among  them  is  the  famous  grammarian  and  poet  Diinash 
b.  Labrat,  who  is  designated  by  the  pupils  of  his  opponent, 
Menahem  b.  Saruk,  as  "  the  least  important  of  the  pupils 
of  Saadia,"  ^'  no  doubt  an  exaggeration  born  of  the  desire 
to  belittle  an  antagonist.  Other  pupils  of  prominence  men- 
tioned by  name  are  Jacob  b.  Samuel,  whose  family  name 
is  thought  to  have  been  Ibn  Ephraim,  under  which  name 
he  is  quoted  by  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,  and  who  is  assumed 

**^  For  the  relation  of  Nissim  and  Hananel  to  Saadia  see  Rapoport's 
Biographies  in  y^ilDn,  XII,  27,  n.  21;  28,  n.  29;  81,  n.  40,  end;  for 
Nissim  in  particular  see  Goldziher,  RE  J.,  XLII,  179,  184  ff.; 
Schreiner,  Der  Kalam,  p.  12;  comp.  Graetz,  History  (English),  III, 
249.    For  Dunash  Ibn  Tamim  see  above,  p.  48. 

***  See  above,  pp.  55  f . ;  below,  p.  413,  nos.  4-5;  p.  418,  no.   11. 

"'SeeBacher.  JE.,  V.  11. 


SAADIA'S  INFLUENCE  ON  LATER  GENERATIONS    293 

also  to  be  identical  with  Jacob  b.  Ephraim,  referred  to  by 
the  Karaite  Jephet  b.  'Ali  (loth  century)  as  the  author 
of  a  commentary  on  the  Palestinian  Talmud;"*''  Sahl  b. 
Natira,  a  member  of  the  prominent  Natira  family,  which 
played  so  important  a  role  in  the  reconciliation  of  Saadia 
and  the  Exilarch  David  b.  Zakkai ;  *"'  Abraham  al-Sairafi,"" 
author  of  a  work  of  uncertain  content  referred  to  in  a  recent 
Genizah  fragment;  a  certain  R.  Menahem  who  addressed 
some  scientific  questions  to  the  Gaon.  At  the  end  of  his 
letter  of  inquiry  he  eulogizes  Saadia  in  a  poem  showing  the 
acrostics  nnVD  and  DHJD  and  also  applies  to  him  the  words 
addressed  by  Huram  to  Solomon :  "  Because  the  Lord  loveth 
His  people,  He  hath  made  thee  king  over  them"  (H  Chr. 
2,  10)  .'"^'^ 

Finally,  we  should  mention  in  this  connection  the  tremen- 
dous influence  of  Saadia  on  the  Karaites  and  their  literature. 
Their  entire  activity  in  the  fields  of  philology,  exegesis,  and 
Jewish  law  received  its  impetus  from  the  works  of  the  Gaon 
and  his  followers.  A  very  considerable  portion,  perhaps 
the  larger  part  of  the  existing  Karaite  literature,  down  to 
our  present  time,  while  antagonizing  Rabbinism  in  general, 
actually  aims  at  the  refutation  of  the  theories  of  Saadia, 
who,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Karaites,  was  not  alone  their  most 
determined  adversary  but  also  the  strongest  exponent  of 
Rabbinic  Judaism.  For  nearly  a  thousand  years  after  the 
disappearance  of  the  Gaon  from  the  arena,  the  Karaite 
authors   unrelentingly   attacked  their   dead   opponent   and 

^^  This  very  plausible  identification  was  suggested  by  Poznanski 
in  the  Kaufmann  Gedenkhuch,  pp.  169  ff.,  where  all  the  details  are 
clearly  set  forth ;  comp.  also  Poznanski,  The  Karaite  Literary  Op- 
ponents of  Saadiah  Gaon,  London,  1908,  p.  27. 

"^  See  Harkavy's  article  on  the  Natira  family  in  Berliner's  Fest- 
schrift, pp.  34-43 ;  comp,  above,  note  237. 

^**  See  the  Bibliography,  p.  402,  nos.  15,  16.  The  Commentary  on 
Chronicles  edited  by  Kirchheim  (above  note  606;  Bibliography, 
p.  327)  is  very  probably  the  work  of  a  pupil  of  Saadia,  whose  name, 
however,  cannot  be  ascertained ;  comp.  also  Vogelstein-Rieger,  Gesch. 
der  Juden  in  Rom,  I,  184. 

"*"  See  Harkavy,  Ha-Goren,  I,  91. 


294  SAADIA  GAON 

denounced  his  views.  Notwithstanding  this  bitter  enmity  to 
Saadia  they  often  appropriated  his  ideas  or  claimed  that 
these  had  originated  with  some  of  their  ancient  teachers, 
with  whom  Saadia  had  studied  or  from  whom  he  had 
plagiarized.  This  is  not  the  place  for  a  detailed  discussion 
of  this  matter.^"  I  wish  merely  to  point  out  the  fact  that 
while  Saadia  has  contributed,  as  no  other  Rabbanite  in  the 
history  of  Jewry,  to  the  disintegration  of  the  Karaite  sect  as 
such,  he  is,  on  the  other  hand,  chiefly  responsible  for  the 
development  of  what  is  known  as  Karaite  literature. 

In  the  foregoing  sketch  of  Saadia's  influence  on  later  ages 
I  have  merely  outlined  the  ground  upon  which  a  future, 
more  detailed  w^ork  may  be  undertaken.  I  have  tried  to 
show  only  the  channels  through  which  Saadia' s  scientific 
labors  reached,  within  a  comparatively  short  time,  the  entire 
Jewry  of  the  Diaspora.  Of  what  benefit  they  have  been 
to  the  Jewish  people  and  of  what  interest  Saadia's  life 
and  literary  bequests  should  be  to  us  to-day,  the  reader,  who 
has  patiently  gone  through  this  volume,  may  decide  for  him- 
self. Perhaps  some  of  the  traits  in  the  Gaon's  character 
may  seem  unadmirable  and  much  of  his  reasoning  may  be 
found  obsolete  and  unproductive.  But  a  great  man  is  entitled 
to  minor  faults  of  character ;  they  make  him  the  more  human 
and  the  more  interesting.  If,  furthermore,  certain  of  his 
ideas  and  contentions  impress  us  as  being  somewhat  behind 
our  age — this  is  what  we  should  expect,  since  their  author 
preceded  us  by  a  thousand  years.  They  are,  besides,  greatly 
outweighed  by  a  wealth  of  genuine  observation  and  sound 
learning,  which  will  retain  its  value  throughout  all  ages. 
Taken  all  in  all,  Saadia  must  be  considered  a  remarkable 
phenomenon  in  the  history  of  the  Jewish  nation,  a  milestone 
on  the  long  road  of  Israel's  development  as  a  "  people  of  the 
Book."     We  may,  indeed,  with  himself,  recognize  in  him 

"*"  For  the  literature  on  the  subject  see  Harkavy's  article  "Karaites  " 
in  the  JE.  and  particularly  Poznansky,  The  Anti-Karaite  Writings  of 
Saadiah  Gaon,  JQR.,  X,  238-276;  idem,  The  Karaite  Literary  Oppo- 
nents of  Saadiah  Gaon,  London,  1908  (reprint  from  JQR.  XVIII- 
XX). 


SAADIA'S  INFLUENCE  ON  LATER  GENERATIONS    295 

the  man  sent  by  Providence,  whom — if  with  some  not  un- 
pardonable egoism,  yet  in  all  sincerity — he  describes  in  the 
following  words :  "  God  does  not  leave  His  nation  at  any 
period  without  a  scholar  whom  He  inspires  and  enlightens, 
so  that  this  one  in  turn  may  so  instruct  and  teach  her,  that 
thereby  her  condition  shall  be  bettered.''  ^''* 

'"'•'1^:in  1DD,  ed.  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  155,  top  ;  corap.  Malter,  JQR., 
N.  S.,  vol.  Ill  (1912-1913),  p.  492. 


Chapter  VIII 
LEGENDS  ABOUT  SAADIA 

The  Orient  is  par  excellence  the  country  of  legends. 
Persons  and  events  that  in  other  parts  of  the  world  might 
have  remained  unnoticed  because  of  their  insignificance, 
have  there  been  made  the  center  of  fanciful  tales  and  tra- 
ditions. It  is  therefore  surprising  that  concerning  the  Geo- 
nim,  whether  of  Sura  or  of  Pumbedita,  extremely  little  has 
come  down  to  us  that  can  properly  be  described  as  legend. 
I  have  undertaken  no  special  enquiry  as  to  Saadia,  but  I 
have  no  reason  to  think  that  he  is  an  exception  in  this  respect, 
or  that  there  is  much  of  a  legendary  character  to  be  found 
about  him  in  the  works  of  mediaeval  authors.  The  few 
legends  about  the  Gaon  that  have  come  to  my  notice  may 
here  be  briefly  recorded.  The  oldest  anecdote,  it  seems, 
is  the  one  reported  by  Judah  Hasid  of  Ratisbon  (12th  cen- 
tury), which  runs  as  f  ollows  :  *^^ 

"  A  wealthy  man  set  out  on  a  journey  to  a  foreign  land, 
taking  with  him  a  slave  and  large  sums  of  money.  His  wife 
he  left  at  home  in  the  state  of  pregnancy.  It  happened  that 
the  man  died  on  the  way  and  his  slave,  claiming  to  be  his 
son,  took  possession  of  all  his  money  and  other  property. 
In  the  meantime  the  widowed  wife  gave  birth  to  a  son. 
When  the  latter  grew  up  he  found  out  the  whereabouts  of 
the  dishonest  slave  and  betook  himself  thither  to  see  whether 
he  could  not  get  back  his  inheritance.  The  slave  had  man- 
aged to  marry  into  a  very  prominent  family  of  the  town, 
so  that  the  cheated  son  was  afraid  to  lodge  his  complaint 
publicly,   lest  the   people   do   him  harm.     It  so    happened 

*"Dn^Dn  nQD,  ed.  Berlin,  §  291.  The  object  of  Judah  Hasid  in 
relating  this  story  was  not  exactly  to  glorify  Saadia,  but  to  emphasize 
the  duty  of  a  son  to  mourn  for  his  father  on  the  day  of  the  anni- 
versary of  the  latter's  death. 

296 


LEGENDS  ABOUT  SAADIA  297 

that  R.  Saadia  lived  in  that  place,  and  the  unhappy  son 
stopped  in  his  house.  He  was  offered  something  to  eat, 
but,  like  Eliezer  of  the  Bible,  he  would  not  touch  anything 
until  he  had  revealed  the  secret  of  his  mission.  Saadia 
advised  him  to  bring  the  matter  before  the  king  (or  caliph), 
which  he  did.  The  king  at  once  sent  for  Saadia  to  decide 
the  case.  Saadia  ordered  that  each  one  of  the  two  litigants 
should  have  some  of  his  blood  drawn  into  a  vessel,  where- 
upon he  laid  a  bone  from  the  body  of  the  dead  father 
into  the  blood  taken  from  the  slave,  but  the  bone  did  not 
absorb  any  of  the  blood.  He  then  placed  the  bone  into  the 
blood  of  the  other  man,  and,  lo,  the  bone  eagerly  absorbed 
the  blood,  because  they  both  were  one  body.  Saadia  now 
decided  that  all  the  money  in  the  possession  of  the  former 
slave  should  revert  to  the  real  heir,  who  had  come  as  a 
stranger  to  the  town."  *"" 

Of  somewhat  later  origin  is  the  story  found  in  a  manu- 
script work  of  a  fourteenth  century  author.""^  Considering 
the, fact  that  the  events  told  therein  are  obviously  supposed 
to  have  taken  place  in  a  Christian  country,  we  may  even  sus- 
pect that  the  Saadia  who  is  the  hero  of  the  story,  is  not  the 
Gaon,  but  his  German  namesake,  Saadia  b.  Nahamani,  of 
the  twelfth  century.^  However,  the  author  repeatedly  men- 
tions "  Saadia  the  Gaon,"  and  we  must  take  his  word  for  it. 
Here  is  the  story  : 

^^  For  the  origin  and  popularity  of  this  blood-test  story  see  Stein- 
schneider,  HB.,  XIII,  133  f.,  who  quotes  numerous  parallels  from 
Jewish  and  general  literature;  comp.  G.  A.  Kohut,  Blood-Test  as 
Proof  of  Kinship  in  Jewish  Folklore  (in  Journal  of  American 
Oriental  Sodety,  XXIV,  133^);  Davidson,  D^yitJ^Vti^  IDD,  New 
York,  1914,  p.  Ixii;  Berliner,  Pletath  Soferim,  Breslau,  1872,  p.  50, 
n.  52. 

"^  See  Berliner,  D'' 15 ID  DD^Q,  Mayence,  1872,  p.  30,  no.  8;  comp. 
ibidem,  German  part,  p.  31,  where  it  is  suggested  that  the  author 
is  Nethanel  Caspi,  a  Provengal  scholar,  who  wrote  a  commentary 
on  Judah  ha-Levi's  Kusari. 

'"^  See  /£.,  X,  578,  586. 


298  SAADIA  GAON 

"I  heard  that  the  priests  (D^n^:)  of  the  city  of  ^^^Q1^ 
nx^HD  (  ?)""'  had  placed  the  penalty  of  death  upon  any  Jew 
venturing  into  the  city.  One  day  R.  Saadia  Gaon,  of  blessed 
memory,  chanced  into  the  forbidden  city  and  was  at  once 
seized  by  the  priests  for  execution.  They  could  not  agree, 
however,  as  to  who  should  administer  the  first  blow  to  the 
Gaon,  each  one  of  them  claiming  the  privilege  for  himself.  At 
last  an  old  priest  appeared  on  the  scene,  and,  noticing  the 
dissension  among  his  colleagues,  advised  them  to  defer  the 
matter  until  the  arrival  of  the  Bishop  (11»:in),  who  would 
punish  the  captive  for  his  oiifence.  Saadia  was  put  into 
prison,  where  he  was  given  only  bread  and  water,  pending 
the  coming  of  the  Bishop.  When  the  latter  came  and  was 
told  of  the  imprisoned  Jew,  he  went  to  see  him  personally. 
Upon  beholding  the  prisoner  he  was  awe-struck,  for  the 
Gaon  was  of  tall  stature  and  fine  appearance.  The  Bishop 
now  assumed  a  friendlier  attitude,  asking  the  prisoner  who 
he  was.  The  latter  answered,  '  I  am  a  Jew,  and  I  beg  you, 
Sir,  not  to  shed  innocent  blood.  If  you  wish  to  try  my  case, 
do  it  in  a  spirit  of  justice,  and  if  I  am  found  guilty,  do  with 
me  as  you  please,  for  it  is  written  (Deuteronomy,  i.  i6)  : 
Hear  the  causes  between  your  brethren,  and  judge  right- 
eously.' Thereupon  the  Bishop  asked  Saadia  whether  he 
would  be  willing  to  engage  in  a  disputation  with  the  priests 
and  reply  to  their  questions.  The  Gaon  answered  in  the 
affirmative,  whereupon  all  the  priests  assembled  in  a  certain 
place,  with  the  Bishop  presiding  over  the  assembly.  The 
Gaon  was  brought  from  the  prison  and  thus  addressed : 
*  Say,  Jew,  why  did  your  ancestors  kill  Jesus,  who  was  quite 
innocent  ?    Was  it  not  simply  because  he  was  God  ?  '  " 

The  author  or  reporter  of  the  tale  gives  the  reply  of 
Saadia,  the  burden  of  which  is  that  Jesus  was  not  God,  as 
God  cannot  be  killed.  He  is  evidently  of  the  opinion  that 
the  argument  was  strong  enough  to  convince  the  priests, 

^  Berliner,  I.  c,  p.  2i2>,  does  not  make  any  suggestion  as  to  the 
identity  of  this  city.  Perhaps  it  is  Laval  in  the  Department  of  JNIay- 
enne,  which  was  the  seat  of  the  Order  of  Cordeliers  (Franciscans). 


LEGENDS  ABOUT  SAADIA  299 

for  he  informs  us  at  the  end  that  the  Gaon  was  "  at  once 
dismissed  in  peace." 

In  a  curious  note  ^"^  by  some  anonymous  writer  Saadia  is 
credited  with  the  discovery  of  a  recipe  for  the  making  of 
a  certain  kind  of  cakes,  by  the  eating  of  which  one  is  assured 
of  never  forgetting  his  learning.  The  prescription,  written  in 
Aramaic,  is  as  follows : 

Recipe:  "  To  prevent  forgetfulness ;  tested  and  reliable ; 
was  used  by  R.  Saadia  b.  Joseph,  of  blessed  memory,  who 
found  it  in  the  cave  of  R.  Eleazar  Kalir,  and  it  is  used  also 
by  all  the  scholars  of  Israel  and  their  disciples  with  much 
success — here  it  is :  On  the  first  day  of  the  month  of  Sivan 
take  flour  of  wheat,  knead  it  while  you  are  standing,  make  it 
into  a  cake,  bake  it,  write  on  it,  '  He  hath  made  His  wonder- 
ful works  to  be  remembered,  the  Lord  is  gracious  and  merci- 
ful '  (Psalms,  III.  4)  ;  then  take  an  tgg,  boil  it  well,  peel  it, 

and  write  on  it (here  follow  five  mysterious  words, 

which  are  to  be  written  on  the  ^gg).  Eat  that  cake  every 
day  with  the  Qgg  until  the  end  of  thirty  days,  and  you  will 
grasp  every  thing  that  you  read  [literally :  see^  without  ever 
forgetting  it  again." 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  Saadia  had  nothing  to  do  with  this 
"kitchen-wisdom."  Nor  was  the  story  itself  originally  in- 
vented in  honor  of  Saadia.  The  belief  in  the  efficacy  of 
cakes  with  certain  mystical  inscriptions  as  a  means  of 
strengthening  the  memory  and  for  similar  purposes  was 
prevalent    among    the    superstitious    elements    of    various 

®"  Published  from  Codex  de  Rossi,  327,  by  Ch.  M.  Horowitz,  in 
niD^nn  ni3J  n^l,  I,  Frankfurt  a/M.,    1881,  p.  58:    PHD    ^^^t^'^ 

n^nDtJ^x  mm  Vr  ^dv  nn  nnyo  ni  p^oy  nin  ni   iD^noi 

c'^i  >Dm  xnop  no  iron  xni^  tj^nn  .«>n  va  n^n^^v^i 
n^T  nn  nn^i   nn^  nia^^i  pomp  nn^  nny^  n^^?  n^in  nn^ 

^^r\r\  ^iDK  .niTDi  pii<  n?oin'  dddo  d^^qdx  n'?)}  ariDi  nn*" 
nn  DNi  HQ  ^D  ^••^ni  dt*  '^  d^k^d  iy  «yn  nv  t?DV  ^d  xomp 


300  SAADIA  GAON 

peoples."^  In  Jewish  history,  the  custom  of  eating  cakes 
inscribed  with  Bibhcal  verses  in  order  to  gain  wisdom  is 
known  from  times  prior  to  Saadia ;  for  the  great  Uturgist 
Eleazar  KaUr,  in  whose  cave  Saadia  is  here  reported  to  have 
discovered  the  prescription,  derives  his  name  according  to 
some  scholars,^"*  from  such  a  cake  (*1^P,  Greek  Ko\kvpa  =  a. 
small  cake),  which  he  was  given  to  eat  when  he  began  to 
go  to  school,  that  he  might  become  wise.  Hence  the  con- 
nection established  in  the  foregoing  story  between  Saadia  and 
Kalir."' 

The  preceding  piece  is  well  matched  by  a  "  Prescription  " 
(llpn)  for  frightening  away  highwaymen  which  is  attributed 
to  Saadia  in  two  Kabbalistic  manuscript  works.  The  direc- 
tion is :  Take  a  rod  of  almond,  make  a  hole  in  it,  write  in  a 
spirit  of  contrition,  while  fasting,  ten  (eleven?)  mystical 
words  on  a  piece  of  parchment  made  of  the  skin  of  a  deer 
that  was  killed  ritually,  insert  the  parchment  in  the  hole  and 
swing  the  rod  before  the  faces  of  the  highwaymen,  saying 
"  stop !  "  They  will  stop  at  once  and,  terrified,  will  be  unable 
to  do  you  evil.  Then  smite  the  ground  three  times  with  the 
rod,  whereupon  they  will  go  their  way.     As  a  further  pre- 

®"  See  Goldziher's  admirable  study  Muhammedanischer  Aberglaube 
iiber  Geddchtnisskraft  und  Vergesslichkeit,  in  Berliner's  Festschrift, 
pp.  150  f. 

"''Nathan  b.  Jehiel,  'Aruk,  s.  v.  I^P,  3;  comp.  JE.,  VII,  418. 

^^^  Goldziher,  /.  c.  The  story  of  Saadia's  imprisonment  for  thirteen 
years  as  well  as  the  report  of  Kabbalistic  authors  that  he  was  buried 
at  the  foot  of  Mount  Sinai  are  both  of  a  legendary  nature;  see 
above,  notes  278,  606.  Abraham  Ibn  Baud's  assertion,  that  Saadia 
was  a  descendant  of  the  Tanna  Hanina  b.  Dosa  (see  above,  p.  31), 
though  it  may  not  be  accepted  as  truth,  cannot  be  classed  among 
legends,  since  Saadia  himself  traced  his  pedigree  still  further  back,  to 
the  Biblical  Shelah,  the  third  son  of  Judah;  comp.  above  note  18.  As 
to  mystical  Works  attributed  to  Saadia  by  later  ages  see  the  Bibli- 
ography, section  VIII,  pp.  403  ff. ;  comp.  also  Poznanski,  XDH  m 
\M<i  nnyO  nin  (reprint  from  Ha-Goren,  vol.  VI),  p.  26. 


LEGENDS  ABOUT  SAADIA  301 

caution  one  should  recite  certain  verses  (Jer.  10,  10;  Gen. 
49,  18)  and  Psalm  121  before  starting  on  his  journey T* 

Finally  there  should  be  mentioned  an  anecdote  reported 
by  the  famous  bibliographer  Hayyim  Joseph  David  Azulai 
(died  1807),  who  found  it  in  a  manuscript  which  contained 
Saadia's  "  Poem  on  the  Number  of  Letters."  The  anecdote 
runs  as  follows  :  "  In  a  joking  way  the  Gaon  R.  Saadia  asked 
a  tailor  who  came  to  his  house,  '  How  many  stitches  did  you 
make  to-day '  ?  to  which  the  tailor  retorted,  *  May  your 
Highness  please  tell  me  how  many  letters  there  are  in  the 
Torah.'  The  Gaon  was  very  painfully  impressed  by  this 
reply,  for  until  this  time  it  had  never  happened  to  him  that 
anybody  should  ask  him  a  question  to  which  he  knew  no 
answer.  For  several  days  he  worried  about  the  matter, 
being  unable  to  establish  the  exact  number  [of  the  letters] . 
He  then  used  a  mysterious  name   [of  God]    by  which  he 

"=»"  onpK^  "p^  \^  Ti^  ^PD  np  .^"T  nnyo  "i"in  iipn  d-idd^^ 
«"^niix  t<":'':ni  d"id:!  j^idiik  ni^ti^n  (!)  r\^^v  i^x  ninDi 

nin  r\^v^  Divni  nijym  nintDn  nn^  n-.x  pnpin  ^^^2  tsinc^ 
inanti^  dij^  i«  d-'idd^  nt^nntj^  nyni  ninn  nnr^n  d-'J^hi  '?\>^i 
i^nn^i  nny^  dh^  i^nnni  \^^v  ni?2Xi  d*i:):d  ^p?on  riDn  tx  ijdo 
DDii^  iD^^  Dni  nxn  ss'':;  n^n  pi  n  i''^«  im^  i^iDr  x^i 
'•p^K  ^''"i  Dti^i  niDi^  T-yn  id  xvdk^  nyi  ix  .Di^tj^n  i^n  nnt^i 
D-iia  i^D^  x^i  r^^r\  tj^yin  isvpd  D^iy  i^roi  D^^n  d^p^«  5'«i:i^^ 
''jT'ip  inyitj'^^  'ID  Dnnn  ^x  Ty  xtj^x  in^  ni^yon  i^ti>i  iDyr 
.y'p>  p''^"-  ^''^p  y'^p  p'^^  •'''•» 

The  text,  as  here  given,  is  taken  from  the  "  Fountain  of  Wisdom  " 
(HD^nn  \^V^)  of  Moses  Botarel  (MS.  of  the  Jewish  Theological 
Seminary  of  New  York,  fol.  73),  who  is  probably  himself  the  author 
of  the  ppn  (see  below,  p.  404,  no.  i).  The  same,  with  a  few  slight 
variants,  is  found  in  another  MS.  of  the  Seminary.  In  place  of  the 
last  five  abbreviations  this  MS.  reads:  '»''''  nniD  IJpniS^  IGn^l 

5>''«nii<  y^^v  y't^nix  V'j^^oD  Dt^'n  niot?  5^1011.   The  word 

"jDn^l  directs  the  reading  of  the  words  ^"^  ""n^lp  ^nV^^^^  in  re- 
verse order.  I  am  indebted  to  Prof.  Marx  for  having  called  my 
attention  to  the  two  MSS. 


302  SAADIA  CAON 

conjured  up  an  angel  who  to  his  great  rejoicing  revealed  to 
him  the  number  asked  for."  '^ 

This  story  is  obviously  fabricated  to  explain  the  reason 
for  the  Gaon's  composition  of  a  poem  on  a  subject  which 
seemed  to  be  very  trivial.*"^ 

The  few  anecdotes  here  reproduced  do  not  contain  any 
historical  element,  nor  do  they  add  any  particular  feature  to 
the  picture  of  Saadia's  personality  as  conceived  on  the  basis 
of  historical  research.  Their  underlying  idea,  however,  is 
fully  in  accord  with  the  general  results  brought  out  by  our 
investigation,  that  the  Gaon  was  a  wise  and  great  man  in 
Israel,  whose  wisdom  was  admired  by  Jew  and  Gentile 
and  whose  literary  activity  was  a  blessing  to  his  nation. 

"^Azulai,  D"'^n:in  C3tJ^,ed.Benjacob,J.z/.  nnj/D.  The  same  author, 
a  great  believer  in  the  teachings  of  the  Kabalah,  here  informs  us  on 
the  authority  of  the  famous  Kabalist  Hayyim  Vital  (died  1620, 
Damascus),  that  Saadia  was  endowed  with  the  soul  which  belonged 
formerly  to  Hushai  the  Arkite  (II  Samuel,  15.  ^,2)  and  subsequently 
to  the  Tanna  Phinehas  b.  Jair  (second  century).  In  view  of  Saadia's 
bitter  condemnation  of  the  belief  in  the  transmigration  of  souls  (see 
above,  note  511),  the  honor  here  intended  for  Saadia  by  the  Kabahsts 
is  a  great  insult  to  his  memory.  For  another  story  according  to  which 
Saadia  taught  the  secret  of  producing  life  by  means  of  the  alphabet 
see  above,  note  622. 

^  See  above,  note  350, 


PART  III 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 

AN  ACCOUNT,  HISTORICAL  AND  CRITICAL, 
OF  MANUSCRIPT  TEXTS,  COMPLETE  AND 
FRAGMENTARY,  EDITIONS,  TRANSLATIONS, 
AND  CITATIONS  OF  SAADIA'S  WRITINGS; 
TOGETHER  WITH  A  REVIEW  OF  THE  ENTIRE 
MODERN  LITERATURE  BEARING  ON  SAADIA 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

PREFATORY  NOTE 

The  intention  in  this  Bibliography  is  not  to  register  all  the 
discussions  on  Saadia's  life,  or  on  one  or  another  phase 
thereof,  which  occur  in  general  works  on  Jewish  history,  or 
in  historical  studies  of  particular  aspects  of  Judaism.  For 
instance,  a  monograph  on  the  attitude  of  Judaism  toward 
superstition  may  contain  a  chapter  relating  especially  to 
Saadia.  Such  works  will  be  recorded  as  far  as  they  have 
come  to  my  notice,  but  completeness  cannot  be  aimed  at.  The 
same  restriction  applies  also  to  the  innumerable  notes  and 
miscellaneous  articles  on  Saadia  scattered  through  the  vast 
periodical  literature  of  different  countries  and  languages  dur- 
ing a  period  of  nearly  a  whole  century.  Most  of  these  articles 
have  been  recorded  in  Mo'ise  Schwab's  Repertoire.  More- 
over, nearly  everything  that  is  of  any  significance  for  the 
present  work  has  been  referred  to  in  the  footnotes.  My 
chief  concern  here  is  to  give,  in  orderly  arrangement,  a  com- 
plete and  systematic  bibliography  of  all  the  writings  of 
the  Gaon  himself,  whether  these  writings  have  been  pre- 
served or  not.  All  the  publications  of  Saadianic  texts,  either 
entire  books  or  fragments,  whether  in  the  original  language 
used  by  Saadia  or  in  translation,  will  be  minutely  described. 
Naturally,  all  that  has  been  written  by  later  scholars, 
ancient  and  modern,  in  connection  with  one  or  the  other 
of  these  writings,  will  have  to  be  noted  in  the  appropriate 
places.  The  whole  may  thus  be  expected  to  form  a  fairly 
complete  history  of  the  Saadia  Hterature  and  to  give  the 
student  the  necessary  information  on  any  point  he  may  be 
interested  in,  respecting  the  life  and  literary  activity  of  the 
Gaon. 

A  bibliography  of  the  numerous  MSS.  of  Saadia's  writ- 
ings extant  in  various  hbraries  is  not  included.     New  dis- 

305 
20 


3o6  SAADIA  GAON 

coveries  of  fragments  in  the  Genizah  collections  are  con- 
stantly being  made,  so  that  investigation  of  this  field  can- 
not yet  be  considered  as  concluded.  Occasionally,  however, 
references  to  the  Catalogues  of  MSS.  in  various  European 
libraries  will  be  given. 

I.  PHILOLOGY 

I.  'Agron  (|njK),  a  Hebrew  rhyming  dictionary.  Two 
fragments,  one  Arabic  and  the  other  Hebrew,  both  forming 
parts  of  Saadia's  Introductions  to  the  work,  were  discovered 
in  the  Genizah  in  1864  by  the  Karaite  Abraham  Firkovich. 
The  fragments  were  published  completely  for  the  first  time 
by  Harkavy,  ZfaW.,  II,  73-94,  175  (also  separately,  1881 ; 
comp.  Steinschneider,  H.  B.,  XXI,  96;  see  also  the  Bibli- 
ography of  Harkavy's  writings  by  D.  IMaggid  and  S.  Poz- 
nanski,  in  Harkavy's  Festschrift  (also  separately),  nos.  81, 
123,  238,  242,  246),  and  then  in  his  Zikron,  etc.,  V  (1891), 
pp.  40-57,  with  copious  notes  and  an  Introduction  in  which 
everything  pertaining,  and  many  things  not  pertaining,  to  the 
history  of  the  work  and  its  fragments  were  collected ;  see 
Bacher's  review  of  this  publication  m  REJ.,  XXIV,  307  fif. 
(comp.  also  Bacher  and  Porges,  REJ.,  XXV,  143-151). 
Independently  of  Harkavy,  David  Kohn  (Kahana)  published 
the  Hebrew  fragment  from  a  copy  of  H.  J.  Gurland  with 
lengthy  notes  and  disquisitions  under  the  peculiar  title 
j"Dn  nnSinS-i3D,  Cracow,  1891  (reprint  from  the  nnsomviK, 
IV).  At  the  end  of  the  book  a  Hebrew  translation  of  the 
Arabic  fragment  is  given  without  the  text  (see  REJ.,  XXVI, 
140)  ;  comp.  below,  under  ^i^Jn  "^20,  p.  394.  An  article  on 
the  'Agron  by  Senior  Sachs  is  found  also  in  the  Hebrew 
monthly  "ipinn,  I  (1891),  5-9,  36-40;  comp.  also  ibidem, 
pp.  62-64  (Harkavy). 

Aside  from  the  two  fragments  of  the  Introductions  here 
discussed  some  additional  portions  of  the  'Agron  itself  were 
found  and  partly  edited  by  Harkavy,  Jia-Goren,  VI,  26-30. 
For  further  details  see  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  61,  no.  22; 
see  also  Berliner,  Pletath  Soferim,  Breslau  1872,  pp.  29  f . ; 
above  pp.  39  f . 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  I— PHILOLOGY  307 

2.  Kutub  al-Lugah  (n^^^t?  3^)3),  "Books  on  the  (He- 
brew) Language."  Fragments  of  this  work  were  found 
by  Harkavy  in  the  Hbrary  of  St.  Petersburg,  but  only  a  few 
pages  were  published  by  him,  together  with  a  Hebrew  trans- 
lation, in  Ha-Goren,  VI  (1906),  30-38.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  portions  of  the  work  were  incorporated  by  Saadia 
in  his  Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yeqirah  (Paris,  1891), 
pp.  45  f.,  75-79.  One  of  these  (pp.  76,  1.  2 — 78,  1.  19)  was 
published  by  Neubauer  in  the  Journal  Asiatique,  1862,  pp. 
261  f.,  and  then  republished,  with  a  Hebrew  translation,  by 
Harkavy  (Zikron,  V,  61-65),  who  thought  the  passage  to  be 
part  of  the  'Agron  (see  above,  note  297).  For  various  quo- 
tations in  the  works  of  later  authors  see  Harkavy,  /.  c,  pp. 
68  ff.  A  presentation  of  its  content,  so  far  as  was  possible  on 
the  basis  of  Saadia's  Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yezirah  and 
of  citations  found  in  works  of  later  authors,  was  given  by 
Bacher  in  Die  Anfdnge  der  hehrdischen  Grammatik,  Leip- 
zig, 1895,  PP-  38-60;  comp.  also  Bacher,  RE  J.,  XXIV,  307  fif., 
and  especially  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  60. 

3.  Tafsir  al-sab'ina  lafsah  {'rro^"?  pynD^t^  n^DDD),  "Ex- 
planation of  the  Seventy  Hapaxlegomena."  This  booklet 
was  published  four  times  within  one  year,  first  by  Dukes  in 
the  Zeitschrift  fur  die  Kunde  des  Morgenlandes,  V  (1844), 
1 15-136,  with  numerous  notes  ;  then  for  a  second  time  by  the 
same  writer  with  the  omission  of  most  of  the  notes  and  with 
some  corrections,  in  Ewald  and  Dukes,  Beitrdge  zur  Ge- 
schichte  der  dltestcn  Auslegung,  Stuttgart,  1844,  II,  pp.  no- 
li 5.  These  editions  were  followed  by  that  of  Ben  Jacob  in 
D-'PTiy  Dnm,  part  I,  Leipzig,  1844,  under  the  title :  innD 
I^k:!  nnyo  n-i^  nmn  ni^D  n^v^r\.  In  this  edition  the 
Arabic  words  which  were  used  by  Saadia  in  explanation 
of  the  Hebrew  are  translated  into  Hebrew,  probably  by  Jel- 
linek,  though  the  editor  does  not  say  this  clearly.  The 
explanatory  notes  are  also  in  Hebrew.  Simultaneously  it 
was  published  also  with  notes  in  Geiger's  Wissenschaftliche 
Zeitschrift,  V,  317-324.  Finally  a  new  edition  was  prepared 
by  the  indefatigable  Buber  (in  Steinschneider's  AL.,  p.  339, 
1.   5.   from  below,  erroneously:    Bacher)    in   1856   for  the 


3o8  SAADIA  GAON 

periodical  non  DID,  but  the  latter  having  discontinued  its 
appearance,  the  work  did  not  see  the  light  until  over  thirty- 
years  later  in  the  periodical  nnDDH  IVIX,  I  (1887),  33-52, 
under  the  title  nm  itJ^D.  Buber's  edition  is  based,  so  far  as 
the  text  is  concerned,  on  that  of  Ben  Jacob,  the  Arabic 
phrases  being  given  in  the  same  Hebrew  translation,  but  the 
learned  editor  added  very  copious  notes  and  parallels  from 
rabbinic  literature.  A  Genizah  fragment  containing  the 
larger  portion  of  the  book  is  described  in  Neubauer  and 
Cowley's  Catalogue,  II,  no.  2862,  2yc,  with  the  title  H'nti^ 
|«^p^«  n^^mSD  |0  ritba^  pyno^t^,  the  Bible  being  here  desig- 
nated as  Koran ;  comp.  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  p.  85,  n.  i ; 
Poznahski,  ZfhB.,  X,  148;  Bacher,  MGWJ.,  1901,  p.  565. 
4.  Bible  Translations  and  Commentaries: 

A.  PENTATEUCH 

According  to  Saadia's  own  statement  at  the  end  of  his 
Introduction  to  the  Pentateuch,  he  had  originally  prepared 
a  translation  of  the  Pentateuch,  together  with  a  very  exten- 
sive commentary,  in  which,  to  judge  from  the  description 
given  by  the  author  and  from  the  fragments  that  have  come 
to  light  recently,  he  did  not  confine  himself  to  the  exegesis  of 
the  Biblical  text,  but  embodied  excursuses  on  Hebrew  gram- 
mar and  syntax,  lengthy  philosophic  disquisitions  on  the 
entire  Pentateuchal  law  in  its  two  aspects  as  revealed  and 
rational  (see  above,  p.  208),  and  numerous  polemics  against 
the  Karaites  and  other  sectaries.  This  was  the  work  to  which 
earher  mediaeval  authors  referred.  Except  for  a  few  frag- 
ments of  the  commentary  the  book  is  lost,  and  what  we 
possess  to-day  is  a  second  translation  without  the  commen- 
tary, which,  as  the  author  tells  us,  he  prepared  at  the  request 
of  certain  persons,  who  desired  to  have  a  plain,  intelligible 
version  of  the  Hebrew  text  without  the  insertion  of  all  the 
elements  mentioned  before. 

This  translation  was  first  printed  from  a  MS.  written  in 
Hebrew  characters,  in  the  Pentateuchtis  Hebraeo-Chaldaeo- 
Persico- Arabians,  Constantinople,  1546.  A  century  later 
(1645)  it  was  published  (from  a  Paris  MS.)  in  the  Paris 
polyglot  with  a  Latin  translation  by  Gabriel  Sionita,  and 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  I— PHILOLOGY  309 

then  reprinted  in  the  London  polyglot  (1657).  Variants 
from  another  MS.  (see  Neubauer,  Catalogue,  I,  nos.  28,  29) 
and  from  the  Constantinople  edition  were  given  by  Edward 
Pococke  in  the  sixth  volume  of  the  London  polyglot.  For  the 
Paris  edition  the  Hebrew  characters  of  the  editio  princeps 
were  transliterated  into  Arabic,  the  cause  of  innumerable  mis- 
takes in  the  text.  The  Arabic  text  of  the  London  polyglot  was 
reprinted  in  the  Arabic  Bible  edited  by  J.  D.  Carlyle,  New- 
castle-upon-Tyne, 181 1 ;  see  Paul  Kahle,  Die  arabischen  Bibel- 
uhersetzungen,  Leipzig,  1904,  p.  IV.  During  the  years  1894- 
190 1  there  appeared  in  Jerusalem  an  edition  of  the  Pentateuch 
under  the  title  i«n  (crown),  in  Hebrew  ni^n  "iDD,  which,  in 
the  Orient,  is  the  usual  designation  for  all  Bibles  printed  to- 
gether with  Targum  and  Masorah  (see  Bacher,  JQR.,  XIV, 
584,  n.  I ;  I'lDD  |n«,  I,  12,  overlooked  by  Bardowicz,  Die  Ab- 
fassungszeit  der  Baraifa  der  j^  Normen,  Berlin,  1913,  p.  39, 
n.  4,  who  misunderstands  the  meaning  of  ^^T\  "IDD,  quoted  by 
Norzi,  for  which  see  above,  notes  52,  452).  In  this  edition 
Saadia's  Arabic  translation,  taken  from  MSS.  in  the  pos- 
session of  Yemenite  Jews,  was  printed  in  addition  to  the 
Targum  between  the  lines  of  the  Hebrew  text  (in  Hebrew 
characters).  A  modern  critical  edition  with  explanatory 
Hebrew  notes  was  prepared  for  the  occasion  of  Saadia's 
millennium  by  Joseph  Derenbourg  and  published  as  the  first 
volume  of  the  projected  edition  of  Saadia's  complete  works 
(CEuvres  completes  de  R.  Saadia,  Paris,  1893).  Numer- 
ous corrections  to  Derenbourg's  edition  on  the  basis  of  a 
careful  comparison  with  the  texts  of  the  Constantinople  and 
London  Polyglots  were  recently  published  by  Josef  Mieses, 
MOW  J.,  1919,  pp.  269-290.  Derenbourg's  edition  contains 
also  Saadia's  Arabic  Introduction  previously  mentioned, 
with  a  Hebrew  translation  by  Derenbourg,  who  gives  also 
some  specimens  in  French  of  Saadia's  renderings  of  Pen- 
tateuchal  passages,  especially  in  the  poetic  portions.  The 
Introduction  was  translated  into  German  by  W.  Bacher, 
in  Winter  und  Wiinsche,  Die  jiidische  Litteratur,  II  (1897), 
248  f¥.,  and  later  by  W.  Engelkemper,  Theologische  Quar- 
talschrift,  1901,  pp.  529  f¥. ;  comp.  Poznanski,  Zur  jildisch^ 
arabischen  Literatur,  Berlin,   1904,  p.  43.     Extracts  from 


310  SAADIA  GAON 

Saadia's  translation  of  the  book  of  Genesis  taken  "  from  an 
edition  {sic)  of  an  authentic  {sic)  MS."  in  the  Grand-Ducal 
Library  at  Karlsruhe,  Germany,  were  published  in  German 
with  some  comments  by  J.  Schwarzstein,  under  the  title  Tar- 
gum  Arzvi.  Die  arabische  Interpretation  des  Pentateuchs 
von  R.  Saadiu  Hagaon,  Frankfurt  a.  M.,  1886  (82  pages). 
A  lithograph  of  eight  pages  of  the  Arabic  text  is  given  at  the 
end  of  the  book,  but  the  author  does  not  say  a  word  about 
the  origin  and  nature  of  the  MS.,  except  what  I  have  trans- 
lated above  from  the  title-page;  see  also  MGWJ.,  1901,  pp. 
185  f.  (Fried's  review  of  an  Arabic  translation  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch). 

Saadia's  Arabic  translation  of  Deuteronomy,  32-34,  was 
reprinted  from  the  Walton  Polyglot  (together  with  the  other 
ancient  versions  of  these  two  chapters)  by  L.  Bodenheimer 
in  two  small  volumes  containing  a  comparative  study  on  the 
different  translations  under  the  title  linxn,  Das  Lied  Mosis. 
Eine  wissenschaftliche  Vergleichung  der  auf  diesen  Penta- 
teuch-Abschnitt  in  der  Walton'schen  Polyglotte  enthaltenen 
Uebertragungen,  Crefeld,  1856,  and  n3*inn  Di^TI,  Der  Segen 
Mosis,  etc,  Crefeld  i860. 

All  the  editions  of  Saadia's  translations  of  the  Penta- 
teuch with  the  exception  of  Schwarzstein's  extracts  (?)  and 
Bodenheimer's  reprints  were  based  on  MSS.  written  in 
Hebrew  characters.  In  the  library  of  Florence  (codex 
Palatinus  Orient.  112,  xxi)  there  is,  however,  a  ]\IS., 
dating  from  the  year  1245  (643  of  the  Hegirah),  written  in 
Arabic  letters.  From  this  MS.  the  first  four  chapters  of 
Genesis  (and  Ex.  4,  20-26)  were  edited  by  Paul  Kahle  in  his 
Die  arabischen  B ibelubersetmingen,  Leipzig,  1904,  pp.  13-26, 
but  according  to  Bacher  {Rivista  Israelitica,  II,  45-49 ;  comp. 
Theologische  Literatiirzeitnn g ,  1905,  no.  8,  and  JE.,  s.  v. 
Saadiu,  end  of  the  article)  the  ]\IS.  does  not  contain  the  origi- 
nal work  of  Saadia,  but  a  revision  thereof,  approaching  more 
closely  to  the  Hebrew  text  of  the  Bible ;  comp.  Poznanski, 
ZfJiB.,  IX,  13  f.  Another,  and  still  older,  :\IS.  of  the  trans- 
lation of  Genesis  and  Exodus  (dated  637  of  the  Hegirah  = 
1239,  c.  e.),  written  likewise  in  Arabic  characters,  is  extant 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  I— PHILOLOGY  311 

in  the  library  of  Leyden.  The  text,  which  was  published  by 
Lagarde  in  Materialien  siir  Geschichte  iind  Kritik  des  Penta- 
ieuchs,  Leipzig,  1867,  I,  1-108,  differs  considerably  from  the 
other  recensions ;  comp.  Poznanski,  ZfhB.,  IX,  12 ;  see  also 
Kahle,  /.  c,  pp.  viii,  xii,  24.  A  third  MS.  in  Arabic  char- 
acters (of  the  14th  century),  a  specimen  of  which  (Exodus, 
35,  29  to  36,  13)  is  given  by  E.  Tisserant,  Specimina  codicum 
Orientalium,  p.  53,  is  found  in  the  Vatican.  For  the  MSS. 
of  Saadia's  other  Bible  works  extant  in  various  Hbraries  see 
the  references  in  Steinschneider's  AL.,  p.  56 ;  see  also  Neu- 
bauer  and  Cowley,  Catalogue,  etc.,  I,  969,  II,  495. 

Of  Saadia's  Commentary  on  the  Pentateuch  the  following 
fragments  and  extracts  occurring  in  the  works  of  later 
authors,  partly  in  translation,  are  known : 

a)  A  lengthy  extract  from  Saadia's  Introduction  to  the 
Commentary  on  the  Pentateuch  is  preserved  in  a  Hebrew 
translation  in  the  rr\^'i^  nQD  ti^ns  of  Judah  b.  Barzillai 
(1135),  edited  by  Halberstam,  Berlin  1885,  pp.  89-92.  For 
a  reference  to  the  Introduction  in  another  work  see  Stein- 
schneider,  HB.,  VIII,  71. 

b)  A  fragment  of  the  Introduction,  published  by  Hirsch- 
feld,  JQR.,  XVIII  (1906),  317-325.  Hirschfeld  assumes 
that  the  fragment  formed  part  of  Saadia's  Commentary  on 
Jeremiah,  and  this  view  is  accepted  also  by  Eppenstein, 
Beitrdge,  p.  80,  n.  i.  There  is  not  the  least  evidence  for  this 
assumption,  except  that  a  few  verses  from  Jeremiah  are 
quoted  at  the  beginning.  Saadia  refers  here  to  his  discus- 
sion in  preceding  pages  of  the  various  qualities  or  dispo- 
sitions of  the  soul,  and  then  takes  up  the  discussion  of  joy 
and  sadness  as  "  an  appropriate  theme  for  the  Introduction 
to  the  book  which  he  is  about  to  explain  "  (Hirschf eld's 
translation  of  this  passage  seems  to  me  incorrect).  Now  in 
the  second  recension  of  the  seventh  chapter  of  his  Kitdb  al- 
'Amdndt  (ed.  Bacher,  Steinschneider's  Festschrift,  p.  105, 
line  18;  Emilnot,  ed.  Slucki,  p.  in,  bottom)  Saadia  says 
explicitly  that  he  had  discussed  the  sixteen  qualities  or  dis- 
positions of  the  soul  in  his  Commentary  on  Genesis.  The 
fragment,  it  is  true,  refers  to  eighteen,  but,  in  the  first  place. 


312  SAADIA  GAON 

not  much  reliance  can  be  placed  upon  the  reading  of  this 
badly  mutilated  text,  and  for  n''"'  we  may  read  l''\  A  similar 
mistake  is  found  in  two  other  parallel  passages.  In  the  Sefer 
Yezirah,  ed.  Lambert,  p.  68,  line  3,  Saadia  refers  to  an 
"  Explanation  of  the  Construction  of  the  Tabernacle " 
(ptJ^D  nc^VD  rr\^),  no  doubt  in  his  Commentary  on  Exodus, 
25  fif.,  where,  he  says,  he  showed  eighteen  (n''^)  parallelisms 
between  the  upper  world,  the  Tabernacle,  and  the  human 
body  (comp.  above,  p.  186),  but  in  the  corresponding  passage 
quoted  by  Steinschneider  {CB.,  2207,  bottom)  from  the  work 
of  another  author,  who  cites  directly  from  the  Commentary 
on  Exodus,  we  read  in  three  places  sixteen  ( l''""  )  which,  how- 
ever, is  incorrect  as  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra  on  Exodus,  25.  40, 
also  quotes  eighteen.  Secondly,  the  number  eighteen  in 
our  fragment  may  include  the  two  additional  dispositions  of 
joy  and  sadness  which  he  had  previously  mentioned  (in  the 
missing  part)  in  connection  w^ith  the  other  sixteen,  and 
which  he  wanted  to  discuss  here  with  more  detail  for  the 
reason  given  before.  We  should  not  wonder  at  this  pro- 
cedure, as  Saadia's  habit  of  playing  with  numbers  is  well- 
known  (see  above,  notes  473,  531). 

That  the  number  sixteen  in  the  Kitah  al-Amanut  is  cor- 
rect can  be  proved  also  by  the  recently  discovered  fragment 
of  Saadia's  commentary  on  Exodus,  21  (see  below,  under 
letter  i),  in  which  the  author  speaks  of  the  five  senses  "  and 
the  other  sixteen  faculties  of  man  "  (^n^X  't\^\>'?^  i''i^N  n^i^DI 
]t^D:ix^«  ^Q )  ;  see  JQR.,  N.  S.^  vol.  VI  (1915-1916),  pp.  367 
(line  13) ,  377.  It  is  therefore  surprising  that  in  the  "  Ethical 
Treatise  of  Berachya,"  in  the  passage  corresponding  to  that 
of  the  Amdndt  (ed.  Gollancz,  p.  75),  the  number  is  seven- 
teen, and  the  faculties  are  specified  accordingly. 

c)  Genesis,  i,  2.  Judah  b.  Barzillai,  Commentary  on  the 
Sefer  Yezirah,  p.  197,  lines  4-30,  quotes  a  passage  from 
Saadia's  Commentary  on  Genesis,  as  it  seems,  ch.  i,  2. 
Another  short  quotation,  probably  from  the  same  chapter,  is 
found  ih.,  p.  193,  lines  11-17.  The  same  passage  occurs  with 
some  variations  in  Saadia's  Commentary  on  the  Sefer 
Yezirah,  p.  9,  lines  14-19. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  I— PHILOLOGY  313 

d)  Genesis,  3,  20,  by  Harkavy,  Dnpn,  I  (1907),  160  f.  (only 
a  portion  of  the  discovered  fragment). 

e)  Genesis,  18,  i,  a  lengthy  extract  in  Jiidah  b.  Barzillai's 
Commentary,  p.  131,  1.  9  from  the  bottom.  Here  the  author 
does  not  state  expHcitly  that  he  is  citing  from  the  Com- 
mentary on  Genesis,  but  it  is  obvious  from  the  content.  It 
is  not  certain  how  far  the  extract  extends,  but  in  all  probabil- 
ity up  to  p.  135,  1.  18,  where  another  extract  from  a  work 
of  Saadia  is  introduced  with  the  words  nnyo  IJm  ''DJ  1T\'2'\ 
"  this,  too,  did  R.  Saadia  write."  The  Midrashic  style  of  the 
first  extract  at  times  makes  Saadia's  authorship  doubtful, 
but  it  is  known  that  Judah  seldom  quotes  literally.  He 
mostly  paraphrases  and  often  inserts  phrases  and  entire 
sentences  of  his  own  (see  below,  pp.  356  f.).  The  same  ap- 
plies to  the  second  extract  just  mentioned  (overlooked  by 
Halberstam  in  his  index,  p.  xiii),  which  perhaps  goes  as  far 
as  p.  137,  1.  6  from  bottom.  The  work  from  which  this  is 
taken  cannot  be  positively  identified,  but  in  all  likelihood  it 
is  from  the  Commentary  on  the  Pentateuch,  if  not  from  the 
Introduction  thereto.  The  translation  of  D''t<:3n  by  r^^iit^, 
Mishnaic  D^d:iX  spears,  or  prunes  {ib.,  p.  136, 1.  8,  where  the 
words  nnS)  T^y^n  Dm  are  certainly  Judah's  addition,  nns  = 
prunus)  agrees  with  that  of  Saadia  to  Psalms,  84,  7,  ed.  Gal- 
liner,  Berlin  1903,  pp.  xx,  44,  n.  12. 

Among  the  quotations  from  the  commentary  on  Genesis 
(28,  12)  we  should  probably  reckon  also  the  passage  cited 
by  Abraham  Bedersi  (13th  century)  in  his  ri''JDn  DDin 
Amsterdam,  1865,  p.  149. 

f)  Exodus,  7,  16,  Harkavy,  p:in,  II  (1900),  85  f. 

g)  Exodus,  12,  2,  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XVI  (1904),  298. 
h)   Exodus,  parts  of  chapters   15,  28,  30,  published  by 

G.  Margoliouth,  JQR.,  X  (1898),  385-403,  from  a  MS.  in 
the  British  Museum  containing  an  Arabic  commentary  on 
II  Samuel  by  Isaac  b.  Samuel  ha-Sefardi,  whose  date  is  not 
certain,  Margoliouth  placing  him  in  the  early  part  of  the 
I2th  century,  while  Steinschneider,  AL,,  247,  is  inclined  to 
place  him  as  late  as  1380. 


314  SAADIA  GAON 

i)  Exodus,  21,  1-6,  a  fragment  of  four  leaves  (eight 
pages,  23-24  lines  each)  recently  discovered  and  published 
by  Hirschfeld  with  introduction  and  English  translation, 
JQR.,N.S.,Yo\.yi  (1915-1916),  pp.  359-372,374-382.  This 
fragment  is  in  all  probability  part  of  the  D^DDu^'DH  n^XT  "TiDDn, 
mentioned  in  a  book  list  found  in  the  Genizah,  for  which  see 
below,  Bibliography,  VII,  p.  396,  No.  2;  comp.  also  above, 
p.  311,  under  letter  h. 

j)  Two  fragments  from  Exodus,  sections  n^nn  and 
K^n  "i^,  published  with  a  Hebrew  translation  by  Harkavy, 
Semitic  Studies  in  Meinory  of  Dr.  Alexander  Kohut,  Ber- 
lin, 1897,  pp.  244  f.  The  passages  published  by  Harkavy  are 
found  also  in  the  Bible  commentary  DVJ)  ncx  (Exodus, 
I9»  9)  by  Jacob  dTllescas  (14th  century),  and  in  the  so- 
called  Tosafot  D"':ipT  mn  (same  verse).  In  the  latter  work 
they  are  quoted  from  the  unpublished  pH  "nDD  of  Aaron  b. 
Jose  ha-Kohen   (13th  century),  for  whom  see  Poznahski, 

''v::i^nD  lry^^fc<  'n^  ntj^y  nni  ^xprn^  ^y  t^^no,  Warsaw  1913, 

pp.  xcviii  ff. 

k)  A  long  fragment,  Exodus,  chapters  25-40  (see  Deren- 
bourg,  MWJ.,  VII  (1880),  133),  of  which  only  30,  11-16, 
was  published  in  German  by  Bacher,  in  Winter  and 
Wiinsche,  Die  jUdische  Litteratur,  II,  251-254. 

1)  A  fragment  of  about  four  printed  pages.  Exodus,  35,  3, 
and  part  of  36,  published  by  Hirschfeld  with  an  English 
translation,  JQR.,  XVIII  (1906),  606-613.  For  another 
passage  from  Exodus,  35,  3,  see  Oeuvres,  IX,  170,  no.  135. 

m)  Leviticus,  11,  11-28,  with  an  English  translation  by 
Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XIX  (1907),  140-161.  This  is  the 
largest  fragment  that  has  so  far  been  published,  covering 
12  printed  pages. 

n)  Fragment  containing  introduction  to  Leviticus,  16, 
and  interpretation  of  verses  11 -15,  published  with  an 
EngHsh  translation  by  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  VI 
(1915-1916),  pp.  372-374,  382  f.  The  fragment  consists  of 
two  leaves,  but  only  three  pages  (with  23  lines  to  each),  the 
first  page  having  been  left  blank  for  the  title,  which  is  miss- 
ing.    Between  leaves  one  and  two  the  pages  containing  the 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  I— PHILOLOGY  315 

interpretation  of  verses  i-ii  are  missing.  This  fragment  is 
in  all  probability  part  of  the  anonymous  mD  nnx  T'DDD, 
which  seems  to  be  identical  with  the  Diny^i^  'T'DCn;  see 
below,  Bibliography,  III,  p.  346;  VII,  p.  396,  no.  3. 

o)  Fragment,  Leviticus,  section  D''K^1P,  referred  to  by  Har- 
kavy,  p:!!!,  I  (1899),  90 ;  I  do  not  know  whether  he  has  subse- 
quently published  it  or  not.  A  passage  from  the  same  section 
is  quoted  by  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2166  f.  (comp.  Poznanski 
JQR.,  X,  244,  n.  i)  from  a  work  of  Moses  Ibn  Ezra;  comp. 
also  Bacher,  Abraham  Ibn  Esra's  Einleitung  zu  seinem  P en- 
tat  euch-Commentar,  p.  20,  n.  2 ;  Neubauer  and  Cowley, 
Catalogue,  II,  No.  2862,  28 ;  Poznanski,  ZfhB.,  X,  148 ;  REJ., 
XIV,  119.  According  to  a  very  probable  suggestion  of 
Steinschneider  {CB.,  2205),  the  Diy^pn  '•^yto,  for  which  see 
below  under  Liturgy,  p.  335,  no.  i,  also  formed  a  part  of  the 
commentary  on  Leviticus,  23,  24. 

p)  Leviticus,  25,  36-46  (two  pages)  recently  published 
with  introductory  remarks  and  translation  by  H.  Hirschfeld, 
JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  VII  (1916-1917),  pp.  45-46;  54-55. 

q)  Deuteronomy,  i,  41,  and  2,  9-12  (two  leaves  by  the 
same  hand;  after  the  first  leaf  there  is  a  gap),  published  by 
Hirschfeld,  ib.,  pp.  50-54;  56-60;  comp.  the  editor's  general 
remarks,  ib.,  pp.  46-48,  pointing  out  the  similarity  between 
the  contents  of  this  fragment  and  some  passages  of  Saadia's 
'Emunot  [but  see  Postscript].  For  the  nn^K^  ^^V,  probably 
also  a  fragment  of  the  Commentary,  see  below.  Bibliography, 

p.  403- 

Saadia  quotes  his  commentary  on  the  Pentateuch  very 
frequently,  e.  g.  in  his  Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yezirah, 
p.  12,  1.  3  (comp.  above,  note  416)  ;  p.  44,  1.  9  (comp, 
Schwarzstein,  Die  arabische  Interpretation  des  Pentateiichs 
von  R.  Saadia,  p.  i)  ;  p.  68,  1.  3  (see  above,  p.  312,  top)  ; 
Kitdb  al-Amandt,  p.  20,  1.  4  from  bottom ;  37,  1.  5 ;  84, 
1.  4;  106,  1.  6,  and  in  the  second  recension  of  chapter  VII 
( Steinschneider's  Festschrift,  p.  105,  1.  18;  see  above,  p.  311, 
letter  b)  ;  in  the  treatise  on  ''Forbidden  Marriages  "  (1''DQn 
niny^«),  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XVII  (1905),  716,  1.  4  of  the 
Arabic  text  (see  for  details  regarding  this  treatise  below, 
p.  346,  no.  4)  ;  Commentary  on  Proverbs,  ed.  Derenbourg, 


3i6  SAADIA  GAON 

pp.  52,  56,  119,  182  (see  Derenbourg,  Introduction)  ;  in  the 
Siddur,  see  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2205,  where  the  passage 
is  given  in  full. 

For  quotations  of  the  Commentary  in  works  of  later 
authors,  see  Steinschneider,  HB.,  XX,  39,  AL.,  p.  66,  nn.  27, 
28;  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XVIII  (1906),  600  ff.  (Jephet)  ;  Poz- 
nahski.  The  Karaite  Literary  Opponents  of  Saadiah,  London, 
1908,  passim;  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  pp.  83,  216,  last  §.  See 
also  the  two  quotations  from  the  n^nD  m^  (Long  Commen- 
tary) in  G.  Margohouth's  Catalogue,  III,  586,  no.  1160. 

It  is  very  probable  that  the  Commentary  on  the  Pentateuch 
had  the  special  title  Kitdb  al-Azhdr  (nXHTi^^^  nxnD),  "  Book 
of  Splendor,"  just  as  Saadia's  commentaries  on  other 
books  of  the  Bible  (Isaiah,  Proverbs,  Job)  had  each  a 
separate  title.  It  is  hard  to  believe  that  this  title,  mentioned 
by  some  authors  and  in  Genizah  fragments,  designates 
Saadia's  'Azharot,  as  these  would  hardly  be  called  Kitdh 
(book).  A  passage  quoted  by  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2207  (to 
which  I  have  referred  above,  p.  312)  reads:  *iJn"i  'Xpl 
nonn  ^^  inp''i  n^^  ^  nxntx^x  nxriD  ^d  ^'t  nnyo.  Stein- 
schneider, ih.,  2208,  changes  (niK^)  ^  into  {TTWi;)  ^,  so  as 
to  separate  the  Kitdh  al-Azhdr  from  the  Commentary.  This 
change  seems  to  me  unwarranted,  and  the  whole  refers  to 
one  and  the  same  work,  the  Commentary ;  see  for  the  entire 
matter  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  66,  n.  27;  Bacher,  RE  J., 
XXXIX,  p.  206,  no.  9;  Poznanski,  Schechter's  Saadyana, 
p.  22;  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  p.  81. 

B.    PROPHETS 

Nothing  has  been  preserved  of  Saadia's  works  on  The 
Earlier  Prophets.  As  early  as  1886  Harkavy  announced 
the  discovery  of  portions  of  Saadia's  commentaries  on  the 
Earher  Prophets  (see  REJ.,  XIV,  119),  but,  so  far  as  I 
know,  they  have  not  been  published.  Several  references  to 
these  commentaries  are  found  in  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra's  riDtJ' 
in^  and  David  Kimhi's  Commentaries,  for  which  see  Stein- 
schneider, CB.,  2190.    For  an  anonymous  Arabic  translation 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  I— PHILOLOGY  3i7 

see  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  286,  no.  91 ;  Neubauer,  Catalogue, 
I,  no.  180. 

Of  Saadia's  works  on  the  Later  Prophets  the  following 
have  been  preserved  ar  are  known  to  have  existed : 

Isaiah,  translation  and  commentary^  called  Kitdh  al-Istis- 
dlh  (nx^vnOK^X  n^riD)  "Book  of  (Moral)  Improvement." 
The  translation  was  first  edited  from  a  Bodleian  MS.  by 
H.  E.  G.  Paulus :  Rabbi  Saadiae  Phiumensis  versio  Jesaiae 
arahica  etc.,  two  volumes,  Jena,  1790-91.  The  editor  trans- 
literated the  Hebrew  characters  of  the  MS.  into  Arabic  and, 
not  knowing  the  language  sufficiently,  made  numberless  mis- 
takes, which  render  the  edition  worthless ;  comp.  Gesenius, 
Jesaia,  I,  88  ff. ;  Munk  Notice  sur  Saadia,  pp.  29  f . ;  Deren- 
bourg,  Oeuvres,  III,  Introduction.  A  Commentatio  in 
Saadianam  versionem  Jesaiae  arabicam  by  D.  Chr.  Breithaupt 
appeared  in  Rostock,  1819.  Solomon  Munk  published  chapter 
17  with  a  French  translation  and  notes  in  his  Notice  sur 
Saadia,  pp.  29-62.  A  critical  edition  of  the  whole,  with  the 
use  of  a  Paris  MS.,  was  published  with  French  notes  by 
J.  Derenbourg,  ZfaW.,  IX  (1889)  and  X  (also  separately), 
and  then  again  by  the  same  writer  and  his  son  Hartwig  with 
Hebrew  notes  and  a  complete  French  translation  as  the  third 
volume  of  the  Oeuvres  completes  de  Saadia,  Paris,  1896. 

Of  the  Commentary  on  Isaiah  considerable  portions  have 
been  preserved.  Most  of  them,  eighteen  in  number  and  rang- 
ing from  chapters  14  to  63,  were  published  with  a  Hebrew 
translation  by  Derenbourg  in  the  volume  just  mentioned 
(pp.  105-147).  Two  additional  fragments,  parts  of  chap- 
ters 20  and  40,  were  published  in  Harkavy's  Festschrift, 
non-Hebrew  part,  pp.  91-94  (by  S.  Fraenkel),  and  Kauf- 
mann's  Gedenkbuch,  pp.  138-143  (by  M.  Lambert).  A  much 
mutilated  fragment  of  the  Introduction  to  the  Commentary 
is  found  in  Schechter's  Saadyana,  p.  55,  which  is  the  source 
for  the  title  Kitdb  al-Istisldh  mentioned  before.  In  an 
ancient  book-list  from  the  Genizah,  Saadyana,  p.  79,  a  "T'DQn 
n^yti^^  is  registered,  which  probably  refers  to  this  Commen- 
tary ;  see  Bacher,  REJ.,  XXXIX,  p.  206,  no.  8 ;  Poznanski, 
Schechter's  Saadyana,  p.  21,  no.  3  [JQR.,  N.  S.,  XI,  425]. 


3i8  SAADIA  GAON 

For  an  anonymous  Arabic  translation  of  Isaiah  with  short 
glosses  see  Neubauer,  Catalogue,  I,  no.  i8i  (comp.  ibid., 
no.  i8o),  and  below,  under  Minor  Prophets. 

Jeremiah  and  Ejsekiel.  Quotations  from  Saadia's  works 
on  these  prophets  occur  in  several  works  of  later  authors, 
for  which  see  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2192.  The  fragment 
pubhshed  by  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XVIII,  317  ff.,  as  part  of  the 
Commentary  on  Jeremiah  is  more  likely  part  of  Saadia's 
Introduction  to  his  Commentary  on  the  Pentateuch,  see 
above,  under  Pentateuch,  letter  b. 

The  Minor  Prophets.  The  translation  and  Commentary 
to  the  Minor  Prophets  were  in  use  as  late  as  the  14th  cen- 
tury (see  Bacher,  Ein  hebrciisch-persisches  Worterbuch  aus 
dem  merzehnten  Jahrhundert,  Budapest,  1900,  p.  45),  but 
since  then  no  trace  of  them  has  been  found.  References  and 
quotations  in  the  works  of  earlier  mediaeval  authors  are  not 
infrequent.  They  were  noted  by  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2192, 
AL.,  p.  67,  n.  29,  and  Poznanski,  Schechter's  Saadyana,  p. 
21,  n.  I.  [A  recent  fragment  mentions  ItJ^y  nn  I^  (?)  ^^XD»; 
see  Postscript,  below,  p.  427] . 

It  should  not  be  left  unmentioned  that  there  exists  an  anony- 
mous Arabic  translation  (accompanied  by  short  explanatory 
glosses)  of  all  the  Later  Prophets  (MS.,  Neubauer,  Cata- 
logue, I,  no.  181,  dated  1196),  which,  it  is  generally  assumed, 
is  based  on  that  of  Saadia,  who  is  cited  in  it.  Ho  sea  and 
Joel  were  edited  by  R.  Schroter,  in  Merx's  Archiv,  I  (1867), 
28  if.  Joel  and  Amos  by  Deszo  Klein,  Budapest,  1897 ; 
Zephaniah,  Haggai,  and  Zechariah  by  A.  Heisz,  Berlin,  1902  ; 
comp.  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  286,  no.  92 ;  Poznanski,  ZfhB., 
VII,  50. 

C.    HAGIOGRAPHA 

Psalms:  Psalms  1-5  and  11  (in  full)  and  extracts  from 
nearly  all  other  Psalms  (except  the  following  eighteen: 
43.  70,  97 y  106,  108,  III,  117,  121,  124,  125,  128,  134, 
136,  145-149)  were  first  published  with  partial  German 
translation  and  comment  by  Heinrich  Ewald,  in  Ewald  and 
Dukes,  Beitrage  ziir  Geschichtc  der  dltestcn  Aiislegung  und 
Sprachcrklarung  des  alien  Testaments,  Stuttgart,  1844,  I 
9-74,  with  additions  on  pp.  154-160  (in  Arabic  characters). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  I— PHILOLOGY  319 

The  edition  of  the  translation  and  Commentary  of  groups  ol 
consecutive  Psahns  was  begun  by  S.  H.  MarguHes,5'aac/ia^/- 
fajCmiVs  arabische  Psalmenuhersetzimg,  Breslau,  1884,  con- 
taining the  first  twenty  Psahns  (Arabic  characters)  with  a 
German  translation  and  notes.  Margulies'  work  was  con- 
tinued by  S.  Lehmann  (Ps.  21-41),  Berlin,  1901  (see  ZfhB., 
VI,  50)  ;  Th.  Hofmann,  Die  korachitischen  Psalmen  (in 
Programm  des  Gymnasiums  zu  Ehingen),  Stuttgart,  1891 
(Pss.  42-49,  84,  85,  87,  88)  ;  S.  Baron  (Ps.  50-72),  Berlin, 
1900  (comp.  ZfhB.,  V,  40;  MGVVJ.,  190 1,  pp.  183  f.)  ;  S. 
Galliner  (Ps.  73-89),  Berlin,  1903  (comp.  Bacher,  Theo- 
logische  Literateraturzeitung,  1904,  pp.  677-79;  Eppenstein, 
ZfhB.,  VIII,  98)  ;  J.  Z.  Lauterbach  (Ps.  107-124),  Berlin, 
1903  (Bacher,  Theologische  Literaturzeitung,  1904,  no.  i ; 
comp.  MGWJ.,  1905,  p.  503)  ;  B.  Schreier  (Ps.  125-150), 
Berlin,  1904 — all  these  editions  (except  that  of  Hofmann), 
bearing  the  same  title  as  the  publication  of  Margulies,  but 
giving  the  text  in  Hebrew  characters. 

Single  disconnected  Psalms  were  first  published  by 
Schnurrer  in  Eichhorn's  Allgemeine  Bihliothek,  III  (1790), 
425  fif.  (Psalms  16,  40,  no).  The  difficult  Psalm  68  was 
published  (in  Arabic  characters)  by  Dan.  Haneberg,  Uher 
die  in  einer  Milnchener  Handschrift  aufbehaltene  arabische 
Psalmeniebersetzung  des  Saadia  Gaon  (in  Ablmndlungen 
der  philosophisch-philologischen  Classe  der  koniglich  Bayer- 
ischen  Akademie  der  Wissenschaften,  III,  354-410),  Miin- 
chen,  1840  (comp.  Liter  at urblatt  des  Orients,  II,  349  fif.); 
for  Psalms  84,  etc.,  which  are  also  to  be  included  here ;  see 
above,  under  Hofmann. 

Saadia  wrote  a  lengthy  Arabic  Introduction  to  his  work 
on  the  Psalms,  in  which  the  scope,  purpose,  and  form  of  the 
Psalter  were  discussed.  This  Introduction  is  followed  by 
a  commentary  on  the  first  four  Psalms,  which  is  considerably 
longer  than  the  commentary  on  the  same  chapters  which 
accompanies  the  translation.  Upon  this  commentary  fol- 
lows another  shorter  Introduction,  representing  perhaps  an 
earlier  recension.  Both  Introduction  and  the  commentary 
on  Ps.  1-4  were  published  in  a  German  translation,  with 


320  SAADIA  GAON 

notes  by  J.  Cohn,  MWJ.,  VIII  (1881),  1-19,  61-91  (comp. 
Steinschneider,  HB.,  XIV,  118,  XXI,  53),  while  the  Arabic 
text  was  pubHshed  by  S.  Eppenstein  in  Harkavy's  Fest- 
schrift, pp.  135-160. 

Saadia  calls  his  work  on  the  Psalms  Kitah  al-Tasbih 
( n'lnDD^K  nxriD) ,  "  Book  of  Praise."  This  is  not  meant  as  a 
special  title,  as  asserted  by  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  p.  81,  but 
is  merely  the  translation  of  the  Hebrew  D''^nn  nSD,  or 
ni^nn. 

Proverbs,  translation  and  commentary  with  the  special 
title  Kitdh  Talah  al-Hikmah  (no^n^i^  n^t:)  n^DD),  "  Book  of 
the  Search  for  Wisdom,"  first  identified  by  Steinschneider 
in  a  Bodleian  MS.  (J/5.,  X  (1870),  172, /Q7^.,  XIII  (1901), 
446,  n.  I ) .  The  work  is  preceded  by  an  extended  and  very 
valuable  Introduction,  in  which  a  general  characterization 
of  the  Proverbs  is  given. 

Extracts  with  a  German  introduction  and  notes  were  given 
by  Jonas  Bondi,  Das  Spruchbuch  nach  Saadja,  Halle,  1888 
(from  chapter  1-9)  ;  by  J.  Derenburg,  in  Geiger's  jiidische 
Zeitschrift,  VI  (1868),  309-315,  and  by  R.  Schroter,  in 
Merx's  Archiv.,  I,  156,  160,  II,  36  ff.  The  entire  work,  with 
a  French  and  an  abridged  Hebrew  translation,  was  edited 
by  J.  Derenbourg  and  M.  Lambert  as  the  sixth  volume  of 
Saadia's  complete  works  {Oeuvres,  etc.,  Paris,  1894)  ;  comp. 
Bacher,  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra's  Einleitung  zu  seinem  Penta- 
teuch-Commentar,  pp.  25  fif. ;  Poznanski,  Zur  jiidisch-ara- 
bischen  Literatur,  p.  45,  top ;  Steinschneider,  AL.,  pp.  57  f . 
A  full  description  of  Saadia's  method  in  his  work  on  Prov- 
erbs and  a  detailed  analysis  of  the  content  was  given  by 
Bernard  Heller,  REJ.,  XXXVII,  72-85,  226-251. 

Judah  b.  Barzillai,  HI'-V^  nDD  tJ^IIQ,  pp.  93,  155,  quotes  two 
passages  from  Saadia's  Commentary  on  Proverbs,  8,  26-29, 
and  30,  4.  The  latter  passage  is  also  found  in  Saadia's 
Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yezirah,  ed.  Lambert,  pp.  15  f. 
The  same  passage  is  quoted  by  Eliezer  b.  Nathan  of  May- 
ence  (12th  century)  in  his  Decisions  (T'nxn),  no.  119; 
comp.  Halberstam's  Notes  on  the  aforementioned  Commen- 
tary of  Judah  b.  Barzillai,  p.  309,  1.  13.     Many  passages  are 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  I— PHILOLOGY  321 

quoted  by  Joseph  Ibn  Nahmias  in  his  Commentary  on  Prov- 
erbs, edited  by  M.  L.  Bamberger,  BerHn,  191 1 ;  comp.  ib.  p. 
XV.  Variants  to  the  Arabic  text  from  a  fragment  in  the 
Munich  Hbrary  were  pubHshed  by  Johannes  Goettsberger, 
in  Biblische  Zeitschrift,  II,  53-55. 

Job,  with  Introduction,  translation,  and  Commentary, 
called  by  Saadia  Kitdb  al-Tadil  (^nyn^i<  nXfiD),  "  Book  of 
Theodicy."  Extracts  from  a  compilation  in  which  Saadia's 
translation  and  Commentary,  as  well  as  those  of  two  other 
authors  are  reproduced  promiscuously  (comp.  Bacher,  in 
Harkavy's  Festschrift,  pp.  221  fif. ;  JQR.,  XX  (1908) ,  31-49) , 
were  published  by  Ewald,  Beitrdge,  etc.,  I,  75-115.  See  also 
Geiger,  i^rnJfcJ^ID,  7-16.  J.  Cohn  published  the  whole  book 
with  the  omission  only  of  some  parts  of  the  Introduction  and 
Commentary :  Das  Buck  Hiob  iibersetzt  und  erkldrt  vom 
Gaon  Saadia,  Altona,  1889.  A  critical  edition  with  a  Hebrew 
translation,  introduction,  and  notes  by  Bacher  and  a  French 
introduction  and  translation  by  J.  and  H.  Derenbourg  ap- 
peared as  volume  V  of  the  Oeuvres  completes,  Paris,  1899; 
comp.  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  58.  The  first  two  chapters  of 
Bacher's  edition  of  Job  were  reproduced  by  Paul  Kahle,  Die 
arabischen  Bibeliibersetsungen,  Leipzig,  1904,  pp.  27-29. 

Saadia  mentions  his  commentary  on  Job  in  the  Kitab  al- 
'Amdndt,  p.  15,  and  in  several  other  of  his  works;  comp. 
Bacher's  Introduction,  p.  x ;  see  also  Poznariski,  Schechter's 
Saadyana,  p.  22,  no.  11. 

THE  FIVE  SCROLLS 

a)  Canticles.  There  is  no  doubt  that  Saadia  made  a  trans- 
lation of  the  Rook  of  Canticles,  and  wrote  a  Commentary 
on  it,  though  direct  quotations  from  it  are  very  scarce  and 
not  fully  authenticated.  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra  cites  in  his 
"^n^  nstJ*  (a  defense  of  Saadia  against  Dunash  b.  Librat), 
nos.  60,  67,  Saadia's  interpretations  of  two  words  in  Can- 
ticles ;  but  citations  in  this  book,  which  is  not  quite  reHable 
in  other  respects  as  well  (see  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2201,  opus 
30) ,  do  not  always  prove  the  existence  of  a  work  by  Saadia 
on  the  Biblical  book  in  question.  They  may  refer  to  a  pas- 
sage occurring  incidentally  in  one  or  the  other  of  the  lost 
21 


322  SAADIA  GAON 

writings  of  the  Gaon.  In  his  Commentary  on  Canticles,  I.  2, 
Ibn  Ezra  refers  more  exphcitly  to  the  Commentary  of  Saadia 
on  the  same  book,  but  here,  too,  another  recension  of  Ibn 
Ezra's  work  omits  the  name  of  Saadia  and  reads  "  one  of  the 
Geonim"  (D"»J1fc«3n  nn«).  More  reHable  testimony,  how- 
ever, is  found  in  the  Introduction  to  an  unpubhshed  Arabic 
Commentary  on  Canticles  by  Joseph  Ibn  'Aknin,  the  famous 
pupil  of  Maimonides,  from  which  it  is  apparent  that  he  had 
the  Commentary  of  Saadia  before  him,  taking  it  in  some 
respect,  as  he  says  (see  above,  note  592),  as  a  model  for  his 
own ;  comp.  Steinschneider,  in  Ersch  and  Gruber's  Encyclo- 
pcedie,  II,  vol.  31,  p.  54,  n.  75 ;  CB.,  2188.  Moreover,  there 
are  anonymous  Arabic  translations  and  commentaries  on 
Canticles  in  several  MSS.  and  editions,  which,  in  form  and 
content,  bear  so  much  similarity  to  the  exegetical  works  of 
the  Gaon  that  they  have  been  ascribed  to  him  even  by  care- 
ful investigators  of  recent  times  (comp.  Steinschneider, 
Encyclopccdie,  l.  c;  Rapoport,  V"'r\'2'2,  IX,  37,  n.  50).  From 
one  of  these  MSS.  a  translation  and  part  of  a  commentary 
were  published  by  A.  Merx,  Die  Saadjanische  Uhersetzimg 
des  Hohen  Liedes  ins  Arahische,  Heidelberg,  1882,  with  a 
very  learned  Introduction,  in  which  the  authorship  of  Saadia 
is  asserted.  While  later  critics  have,  on  various  grounds, 
disproved  Saadia's  authorship  of  the  translation  and  Com- 
mentary edited  by  Merx  (comp.  Jacob  Loevy,  MWJ.,  X, 
33-41,  and  Bacher,  ZfaW.,  Ill,  202-211;  Poznanski,  JQR., 
Ill,  343),  as  well  as  of  another  Commentary  still  in  MSS. 
(see  Salfeld,  MWJ.,  V,  125-131),  it  is  generally  admitted 
that  these  productions  are  in  fact  reworkings  and  amplifica- 
tions by  others  of  Saadia's  original  work ;  comp.  Bacher, 
Lehen  und  Werkc  des  Abuln'alid  Merwdn  Ibn  Gamh,  Leip- 
zig, 1885,  p.  93,  n.  21. 

The  same  seems  to  be  true  in  the  case  of  a  Hebrew  transla- 
tion of  an  Arabic  Commentary  and  of  the  so-called  Tzvelve 
Homilies  (D''tJ'm  l"^)  on  Canticles  ascribed  to  Saadia. 
Rapoport,  5;'^^!D3,  IX,  37,  n.  50,  considered  the  Per  us  h  genu- 
ine, Dukes,  Beitrdge,  II,  104-109  (comp.  Luzzatto,  HB.,  V, 
146),  on  the  other  hand  denies  Saadia's  authorship;  see  in 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  I— PHILOLOGY  323 

particular  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2187-89,  opp.  18-20;  Salfeld, 
HB.,  IX,  137  ff.,  nos.  47,  71;  Backer,  ZfhB.,  ix,  50  ff . ; 
Poznanski,  MOW  J.,  1907,  pp.  718  ff.  To  my  mind  Saadia's 
original  authorship  has  not  yet  been  disproved,  but  the  matter 
requires  special  treatment.  The  discussion  of  nine  (actually 
eight)  "  musical  tones  "  in  the  introd.  to  the  Commentary  has 
a  parallel  in  'Amdndt,  p.  317  (see  above,  p.  259).  Homilies 
(n^^tJ^xn)  are  often  mentioned  among  works  of  Saadia.  See 
Saadyana,  p.  128;  RE  J.,  XXXIX,  200,  203;  below,  p.  405 
[and  Postscript,  below,  p.  427]. 

There  is  still  to  be  mentioned  a  work  entitled:  Three 
Scrolls  ....  Canticles,  Ruth,  and  Ecclesiastes  ....  tvith 
Targum  Jonathan  .  .  .  .,  Rashi,  and  the  Arabic  translation 
of  Saadia  .  .  .  .,  Jerusalem,  191 1  {^'^  ....  ni^JO  K^^tJ^ 
''I'ny  -i^Dcn  "-''tJ^n  ....  irur  Di:inn  n^i^n  n^npi  nn  Dn^ti^n 
11K:i  nnyo  'n  ^ti^).  The  translation,  based  on  a  Yemenite 
MS.,  is  identical  with  that  edited  in  Arabic  characters  by 
Merx,  mentioned  in  a  preceding  paragraph.  Regarding  the 
MSS.  of  the  anonymous  translations  and  commentaries  dis- 
cussed above,  see  Steinschneider,  AL.,  58,  287,  nos.  looa, 
looh. 

b)  Ruth.  No  quotation  is  known,  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,  T\^^ 
^n\  no.  120,  mentioning  only  the  view  of  Saadia's  critic, 
Dimash.  This  silence  does  not  prove  anything,  however,  for 
we  know  positively  that  Saadia  translated  and  interpreted 
others  of  the  Five  Scrolls  and  3^et,  as  we  shall  see  below, 
quotations  from  these  works  are  extremely  rare,  or  entirely 
lacking.  Besides,  here  again  we  possess  two  anonymous 
translations  (with  portions  of  commentaries),  one  of  which 
was  subsequently  recognized  as  that  of  the  Karaite  Jephet  b. 
'Ali  (see  N.  Schorstein,  Der  Kommcntar  dcs  Karders  Jephet 
b.  Ali  2iim  Biiche  Ruth,  Berlin,  1903,  Introduction:  comp. 
Poznanski,  ZfhB.,  VII,  134),  while  the  other  is  considered 
to  be  either  a  modification  of  that  of  Saadia  or  the  genuine 
work  of  the  Gaon.  Both  translations  were  critically  edited 
by  M.  Peritz,  Zwei  alte  arabische  Ubersetsungen  des  Buches 
Ruth,  Berlin,  1900  (reprint  from  MOW  J.,  1899,  pp.  49  ff . ; 
comp-  S.  Frankel,  Deutsche  Litteraturzeitung,  1901,  no.  20). 
I  have  not  the  least  doubt  that  one  of  these  translations, 


324  SAADIA  GAON 

namely  that  edited  from  a  codex  of  the  British  Museum 
(defective  at  the  beginning  until  c.  2,  13),  represents  the 
original  work  of  Saadia,  though  I  cannot  here  offer  proofs 
for  the  statement.  Even  the  Arabic  Appendix  to  that  trans- 
lation, discussing  the  genealogy  of  David  (Peritz,  pp.  56-59) , 
as,  likewise,  the  Arabic  portion  communicated  by  Poznanski 
{ZfhB.,  IV,  168)  from  another  MS.,  containing  one  of  the 
translations  with  a  mixed  Hebrew  and  Arabic  commentary 
on  Ruth  of  a  Midrashic  character,  impresses  me  as  genuinely 
Saadianic,  though  the  latter  commentary  as  a  whole  must  be 
the  work  of  a  later  author ;  comp.  the  extract  given  by  Poz- 
nanski, /.  c,  with  Aindndt,  p.  147,  lines  5  ff.,  where  the  same 
idea  is  expressed.  It  should  be  added  that  the  translation 
edited  by  Peritz  from  the  incomplete  MS.  of  the  British 
Museum  is  identical  with  the  one  published  later  (Jerusalem, 
191 1 )  from  another  MS.  in  the  Three  Scrolls  mentioned 
above  under  Canticles.  In  this  latter  edition  the  text  is  com- 
plete. A  literal  Arabic  translation  of  Ruth  is  found  also  in 
the  book  DniDn  nn:i»  by  Elia  Benamosegh,  Leghorn,  1856, 
but.  the  translation  differs  entirely  from  those  edited  by 
Peritz  and  is  certainly  not  the  work  of  wSaadia;  see  Stein- 
schneider,  AL.,  p.  288,  no.  loic. 

c)  Lamentations.  That  Saadia  wrote  a  commentary  on 
Lamentations  is  established  be3^ond  a  doubt.  It  is  referred 
to  by  R.  Mubashshir,  a  contemporary  critic  of  Saadia  (see 
Derenbourg,  REJ.,  XX,  137;  comp.  S.  Fuchs,  Studien  iiber 
.  .  .  .  Ibn  BaVam,  Berlin,  1893,  p.  xxxii,  n.  17;  Poznan- 
ski, JQR.,  XIII,  340,  n.  I,  and  above,  note  82)  and  by  David 
Kimhi,  s.  v.  ^DD  (see  Stein  Schneider,  CB.,  2189,  op.  20,  line  8 
from  below).  It  is  also  mentioned  in  an  ancient  book-list, 
Schechter,  Saadyana,  p.  79  (comp.  Poznanski,  Schechter's 
Saadyana,  p.  20,  no.  4)  [JQR.,  N.  S.,  XI,  425] .  So  far,  how- 
ever, no  MS.  containing  either  Saadia's  translation  or  com- 
mentary has  come  to  light. 

d)  Ecclesiastes.  The  only  author  who  mentions  Saadia's 
commentary  on  this  book  is  the  grammarian  Ibn  Ganah ; 
comp.  Bacher,  Leben  und  Werke  des  Abiihvalid  Merwdn 
Ibn  Ganah,  Leipzig,  1885,  P-  9^>  ^-  ^5-    ^^  ^'^S.  is  known; 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  I-PHILOLOGY  325 

comp.  Steinschneider,  AL.,  pp.  59,  137,  n.  3.  The  Hebrew 
Commentary  published  by  D.  Frankel  as  the  translation  of 
Saadla's  origmal  Arabic  (nt?:i  nnVD  IJin  t^nc  Dy  n^np, 
Husiatyn,  1903),  has  been  shown  by  Bacher  (ZfhB.,  IX, 
50  ff.)  to  be  the  work  of  another  author;  comp.  Poznanski, 
MOW  J.,  1907,  pp.  718  ff.,  who  proves  it  to  be  based  entirely 
on  a  commentary  of  the  Karaite  Salmon  b.  Jeroham. 

e)  Esther.  The  translation  is  printed  in  the  Prayer-book 
according  to  the  Ritual  (ril^sn  mo)  of  the  Jews  at  San'a, 
Yemen,  Vienna,  1896.  For  a  full  description  see  Poznan- 
ski, MOW  J.,  1902,  pp.  364-372.  The  Commentary  on  this 
book  is  mentioned  by  Saadia  himself  in  his  Commentary  on 
Daniel  (Bodleian  MS.,  see  Neubauer's  Catalogue,  2486),  as 
well  as  by  his  Karaite  opponent  Salmon  b.  Jeroham,  quoted 
by  Dukes,  Beitrdge,  II,  p.  100,  n.  i,  and  Joseph  Kimhi  (see 
Poznanski,  ibidem,  p.  364) .  It  is  probably  also  cited  by  Ibn 
Nahmias  (above,  p.  321)  ;  for  the  objection  of  Poznanski, 
/.  €.,  p.  365,  that  the  passage  quoted  by  the  latter  differs  from 
Saadia's  interpretation  of  the  same  passage  in  his  Amdndt, 
p.  112,  has  little  weight,  since  it  is  well  known  that  Saadia's 
interpretations  of  Biblical  verses  in  the  latter  work  often 
differ  from  those  found  in  his  commentaries  on  the  Bible.  In 
the  book-lists  mentioned  before  under  Lamentations  [JQR., 
N.  S.,  XI,  425]  a  ^DVQ'?'?  nriDK  n^JD  n^DDn  is  likewise  men- 
tioned, but  it  is  doubtful  whether  tafsir  refers  to  the  transla- 
tion or  to  the  Commentary  or  to  both,  as  the  word  is  often 
used  indiscriminately;  comp.  Poznanski,  Schechter's  Saady- 
ana,  p.  21,  no.  14;  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  59.  For  a  frag- 
ment of  the  Commentary  in  a  Genizah  MS.  see  Hirschfeld, 
JQR.,^Wll  (1904),  66. 

Daniel.  The  translation  was  edited  by  H.  Spiegel,  Saadia 
al-Fajjumis  arabische  Danielverslon,  Berlin,  1906.  The 
Commentary  is  extant  in  MSS.  only.  For  a  detailed  dis- 
cussion of  the  latter  see  Poznanski,  Ha-Goren,  II  (1900),  92- 
103,  and  MGWJ.,  XLIV  (1900),  400-416,  508-529,  where 
several  passages  of  the  Commentary  are  given  and  the  litera- 
ture on  the  subject  is  treated;  comp.  also  Malter,  in  Neu- 
mark's  Journal  of  Jezvish  Lore  and  Philosophy,  Cincinnati, 
1919,  pp.  45-59.     In  this  Commentary,  Saadia  quotes  twice 


326  SAADIA  GAON 

his  Kitdb  al-Arndndt  (Poznanski,  Ha-Goren,  II,  lOi,  and 
MGWJ.,  XLIV,  511)  ;  consequently  the  work  on  Daniel  was 
composed  or  revised  after  933  ;  see  also  above,  under  Esther. 
The  Hebrew  Commentary  printed  in  the  ni^n:i  mt^lpD  under 
the  name  of  Saadia  has  been  proved  long  ago  (Rapoport,  Bik- 
kure  ha-Ittim,  IX  (1828),  34  f.)  to  belong  to  a  later  author ; 
see  Steinschneider,  Die  hebrdischen  Uehersetzungen  des  Mit- 
telalters,  p.  445,  §  260 ;  comp.  also  Poznanski's  article  in  Ha- 
Goren,  I.  c;  below,  p.  404.  A.  F.  Galle,  Daniel  avec  com- 
mentaires  de  R.  Saadia  .  .  .  .  et  variantes  de  versions  arahe 
et  syriaqiie,  Paris,  1900,  is  pseudo-Saadia. 

Ezra  and  Nehemiah  (usually  counted  by  the  ancients  as 
one  book).  Three  mediaeval  writers  quote  passages  from  a 
commentary  on  these  books  in  the  name  of  "  R.  Saadia  " ; 
see  the  references  in  Steinschneider's  CB.,  2195,  s.  v.  Esra. 
These  passages,  however,  have  since  been  found  in  a  Hebrew 
commentary  on  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  which  in  most  AISS. 
is  anonymous,  while  one  (Munich)  ascribes  it  to  Benjamin  b. 
Judah,  an  Italian  exegete  of  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  and  another  one  (]\Iilan)  to  Saadia  Gaon.  The 
commentary  was  published  by  H.  J.  Mathews,  Commentary 
on  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  by  Rabbi  Saadiah,  Oxford.  1882. 
The  editor  in  his  learned  introduction  proves  with  sufficient 
reason  that  the  author  is  not  Saadia  Gaon,  but,  if  his  name 
was  Saadia  at  all,  he  was  probably  the  writer  who  is  known 
as  pseudo-Saadia,  author  of  the  Commentary  on  Daniel  (see 
above,  under  Daniel).  The  three  quotations  from  a  com- 
mentary on  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  by  R.  Saadia  are  accordingly 
to  be  considered  as  referring  to  the  pseudo-Saadia  edited  by 
Mathews,  and  there  is  no  direct  proof  that  Saadia  Gaon  ever 
wrote  a  commentary  on  these  books.  On  general  grounds, 
however,  it  is  considered  certain  that  he  translated  and 
commented  upon  them,  as  well  as  upon  the  rest  of  the 
Bible.  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,  Sefat  Yeter,  no.  138.  quotes 
Nehemiah,  5,  4  (Steinschneider,  CB.,  2202,  line  34,  erron- 
eously: IV,  22)  without  the  name  of  Saadia,  but  see  above, 
under  Canticles  regarding  quotations  in  this  book  ;  comp. 
also  Joel  Miiller,  Oeiivrcs,  IX,  p.  160,  no.  79;  Eppenstein, 
Beit  rage,  p.  79,  n.  4,  who  on  p.  216  contradicts  his  own  view 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  I— PHILOLOGY  327 

as  to  the  quotation  in  DP^TI  ^^It^.  For  completeness'  sake  it 
may  be  added  that  the  Commentary  edited  by  Mathews  was 
pubHshed  a  second  time  (the  editor  says  on  the  title-page: 
zum  ersten  Male),  BerHn,  1895  (reprint  from  T"  '?V  V2P,  VII ; 
see  also  MWJ.,  XVI,  207  ff.),  by  Heinrich  Berger,  who 
ascribes  it  to  Benjamin  b.  Judah,  though  his  authorship  was 
fully  disproved  by  Mathews,  pp.  ii  ff. ;  comp.  Halberstam,  r^P, 
"T^  ^y  VII,  42 ;  Poznanski,  Ha-Goren,  II,  98 ;  Steinschneider, 
AL.,  p.  59,  bottom. 

From  a  curious  misunderstanding  of  a  passage  in  Saadia's 
'Emunot  (ed.  Slucki,  p.  129;  Arabic  original,  p.  253)  both 
Griinhut  (in  the  ^iDt^O  edited  by  L.  Rabinowitz,  St.  Peters- 
burg, 1902,  I,  137)  and  Poznanski  (Ha-Goren,  II,  loi)  de- 
rived the  proof  that  Saadia  had  quoted  his  own  Commentary 
on  Ezra  and  Nehemiah.  As  a  matter  of  fact  in  the  passage 
under  consideration  Saadia  does  not  refer  to  his  Commentary 
on  these  books,  but  to  his  explanation  of  the  particular  verse 
in  question  (Ezra,  4,  24),  which  he  had  given  in  another 
place  of  the  'Emunot  itself  (p.  122;  Arabic,  p.  238). 

Chronicles.  No  definite  reference  to  a  work  of  Saadia's 
on  this  book  is  known.  The  only  evidence  that  such  ever 
existed  is  afforded  by  an  anonymous  Hebrew  Commen- 
tary edited  by  R.  Kirchheim  (inx^  DnVD  D^DM  nm  ^y  tJ^nS 
P«:in  nnVD  H-'D^DD,  Frankfurt  a/M.,  1874),  which  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  written  in  the  tenth  century  by  a  pupil  of 
Saadia  and  to  be  in  part  Saadia's  work ;  see  Kirchheim's 
Introduction,  p.  vi ;  L.  Donath,  MWJ.,  I,  nos.  21-24;  S.  Lan- 
dau, Ansichten  des  Talmuds,  etc.,  Halle,  1888,  pp.  65  ff. 
Saadia  is  mentioned  by  name  several  times  (pp.  19,  27,  36, 
his)  ;  comp.  Briill,  Jahrhilcher,  II,  191  ff. ;  Egers,  HB.,  XIV, 
124  i.;  Steinschneider,  HB.,  XIV,  130;  XVI,  90.  For  a 
supposed  quotation  of  the  Commentary  of  Saadia  in  a  Geonic 
Responsum  see  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  II,  16;  Poznanski,  JQR., 
N.  S.,  vol.  II  (1912-1913),  p.  424.  For  details  pertaining  to 
this  Commentary  and  its  relations  to  Saadia  see  the  recent 
work  of  L.  Bardowicz,  Die  Abfassungszeit  der  Baraita  der 
32  Nonnen,  Berlin,  1913;  comp.  ibidem,  p.  43,  n.  3;  above, 
note  606;  Aptowitzer,  in  A.  Schwarz's  Festschrift,  Berlin, 
1917,  pp.  121  ff. 


328  SAADIA  GAON 

For  a  general  characterization  of  Saadia's  Bible  exegesis 
see  in  particular  the  following  authors  (cited  in  chronological 
order):  Gesenius,  Jesaia,  Leipzig,  1821,  I,  88-96;  Munk, 
Notice  sur  R.  Saadia  Gaon  (1838),  pp.  44-58;  comp.  also 
Additions  in  his  Commentaire  sur  le  livre  de  Hahakkouk, 
1843,  PP-  104  fif.  (comp.  LiteraturUatt  des  Orients,  II, 
349  ff.);  Ewald  und  Dukes,  Beitrdge  zur  Geschichte  der 
dltesten  Auslegung  ....  des  Alten  Testaments  (1844),  I, 
5-1 15;  II,  5-100;  Geiger,  Wissenschaftliche  Zeitschrift,  V 
(1844),  281-316  (comp.  also  his  Jiidische  Zeitschrift,  IV,  201 
ff. ;  Nachgelassene  Schriften,  IV,  116  f.)  ;  L.  Bodenheimer, 
Das  Paraphrastische  der  arabischen  ilhersetzung  des  Saadia, 
in  FrankeVs  Monatsschrift,  IV  (1854),  23-33;  Graetz,  Ge- 
schichte (4),  V,  285!.;  Weiss,  l''m  (ed.  Wilna,  1904), 
pp.  127  f.;  idem  in  ^''Dt^n,  1885,  pp.  275-293;  M.  Wolff, 
Zur  Char  act  eristik  der  Bihelexegese  Saadia  Alfajumi's, 
ZfaJV.,  1884,  1885;  Bacher,  Die  Anfdnge  der  hehrdischen 
Grammatik  (1895),  chiefly  with  reference  to  grammar; 
idem,  in  Winter  und  Wiinsche,  Die  jiidische  Litteratur,  II 
(1897),  138  f.,  243  ff.;  JE.,  X,  579-586;  comp.  also  his 
Abraham  Ibn  Esra's  Einleitung  zu  seinem  Pentateuch-Com- 
mentar,  Wien,  1876,  pp.  2y^7\  61-63 ;  W.  Engelkemper,  De 
Saadiae  Gaonis  vita,  etc.,  Miinster,  1897;  B.  Heller,  La  ver- 
sion arabe  et  le  commentaire  des  Proverhes  du  Gaon  Saadia, 
REJ.,  XXXVII  (1898),  72-85  ;  226-251 ;  A.  Schmiedl,  Rand- 
bemerkimgen  zu  Saadia' s  Pentateuchubersetzung,  MGWJ., 
1901,  pp.  124  ff.  (comp.  ibidem,  pp.  5651.,  the  notes  of 
Bacher  and  J.  Colin),  1902,  pp.  84-88;  358-361;  Stein- 
schneider,  AL.  (1902),  p.  55;  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge  (1913), 
pp.  85-89. 

Aside  from  these  works  and  essays,  the  introductions  and 
notes  to  the  editions  of  Saadia's  Biblical  works  or  frag- 
ments thereof,  whether  genuine  or  merely  attributed  to  him, 
contain,  likewise,  general  characterizations  of  his  exegetical 
methods,  especially  the  Introductions  of  Haneberg 
(Psalms),  Merx  (Canticles),  Cohri  (Psalms,  Job),  Bondi 
(Proverbs),  and  Hartwig  Derenbourg  (to  Bacher's  edition 
of  Job)  ;  comp.  also  Morris  Jastrow,  Jr.,  Jewish  Grammar- 
ians of  the  Middle  Ages,  Hebraica,  III  (1886-1887),  pp. 
171-174. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  II— LITURGY  329 

For  Saadia's  Bible  exegesis  in  his  philosophic  works  see 
the  Bibliography  under  Philosophy.  For  miscellaneous  sub- 
jects bearing  on  Saadia's  Bible  translation  see  S.  Fraenkel, 
Miscellen  zu  Saadias  Bibeliihersetziing,  MOW  J.,  1899,  p. 
471 ;  J.  Schwarzstein,  Zoologie  der  Bibel  nach  der  arabi- 
schen  Interpretation  des  Rabbi  Saadia  Hagaon,  in  the  Actes 
of  the  eleventh  Congress  of  Orientalists,  Paris,  1897,  Section 
musulmane,  pp.  159-170. 

II.  LITURGY 

Saadia's  liturgical  productions  are  all  embodied  in  his 
Ritual  (IHD)  as  yet  unpubHshed.  This  Ritual  was  very  fre- 
quently quoted  in  the  works  of  mediaeval  authors  from  the 
I2th  century  onward  (see  the  references  in  Zunz,  Ritiis, 
p.  19;  comp.  Kohut,  Die  Hoschanot  des  Gaon  R.  Saadia, 
Breslau,  1893,  reprint  from  MGWJ.  of  the  same  year,  p.  i, 
n.  i),  but  no  trace  of  it  was  known  until  the  year  1851,  when 
Steinschneider  discovered  it  in  a  MS.  of  the  Bodleian.  The 
MS.  though  defective  at  the  beginning  and  at  the  end,  as  well 
as  in  several  parts  in  the  middle,  covers  nevertheless  247 
pages.  With  the  exception  of  the  incorporated  prayers, 
hymns,  etc.,  which  are  in  the  original  Hebrew,  the  whole 
work  is  written  in  Arabic  (in  Hebrew  characters).  A 
minute  description  of  the  entire  contents  and  numerous 
excerpts  of  the  text  were  given  by  the  discoverer  in  his 
Bodleian  Catalogue,  coll.  2203-2216,  and  later,  with  various 
additions,  by  Neubauer,  in  Ben  Chananja,  vol.  VI  (1863), 
552  f.,  Vn,  199,  234.  Several  scholars  have  since  dealt  with 
the  Ritual  of  Saadia  in  part  or  as  a  whole,  more  recently 
J.  Bondi,  Der  Siddur  des  Rabbi  Saadia  Gaon  (reprint  from 
Rechenschafts-Bericht  der  jiidisch-literarischen  Gesell- 
schaft),  Frankfurt  a/M.,  1904  (comp.  ZfhB.,  IX,  104-107), 
who  promised  a  critical  edition  of  the  entire  work  together 
with  the  numerous  Genizah  fragments  of  it  that  have  of 
late  come  to  light,  partly  supplying  the  missing  portions  of 
the  Siddur  (comp.  Neubauer-Cowley,  Catalogue,  IT,  no. 
2701).  As  the  beginning  is  lacking,  the  title  is  not  positively 
ascertained,  but  from  a  passage  occurring  in  the  work  it  is 


330  SAADIA  GAON 

assumed  with  great  probability  that  its  name  was  Kitdh 
gawdmi^  al-Salawdt  wal-Tasdbih  (T)i<)'?)i'?i^  yofc^lj  nxnD 
nnXDn^NI),  ''A  Book  Comprising  all  the  Prayers  and 
Hymns  "  (comp.  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2204,  and  Neubauer, 
Ben  Chananja,  VI,  552,  who,  however,  writes  gdmi,  the 
singular  of  gawdmi).  It  is  also  possible  that  Saadia  him- 
self designated  it  by  the  technical  Hebrew  name  Siddur,  or 
Seder,  which  was  employed  very  early  for  prayer  rituals 
(comp.  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2203).  The  title  ni^V^t^  niin; 
in  the  ancient  book-lists  {REJ.,  XXXIX,  200,  no.  30; 
Saadyana,  p.  128 ;  JQR.,  XIII,  330,  no.  91  ;  comp.  also  Graetz, 
Geschichte  (4),  V,  533,  n.  2)  refers  either  to  the  whole 
Introduction  or  to  a  chapter  thereof  [see  below,  p.  427]. 

A.  Of  Saadia's  own  liturgical  compositions  enbodied  in 
the  Siddur  and  described  above  (pp.  147,  149  f¥.)  the  follow- 
ing have  so  far  been  published : 

1.  'Abodah  (ni^^V),  or,  as  Saadia  calls  it,  Pasilk  (PIDD), 
a  hymn  for  the  Musaf  Prayer  of  Yom  Kippur,  arranged 
alphabetically  in  22  strophes  of  8  lines  each.  It  appeared  in 
D^JIDip  n^:M^:  n^  ^^V^  rnip,  edited  by  J.  Rosenberg,  Ber- 
lin, 1856,  part  II,  pp.  10-17,  with  explanatory  Hebrew  notes 
by  the  editor;  comp.  Elbogen,  Studien  zur  GeschicJite  des 
judischen  Gottesdienstes,  Berlin,  1907,  pp.  64,  82  fT. 

2.  niVO  :i"nn,  a  Didactic  Poem  on  the  613  Precepts, 
published  with  notes  by  Rosenberg,  ibid.,  pp.  30-38.  The 
portion  printed  on  pp.  26-29  is  erroneously  taken  by  the 
editor  as  an  introduction  to  this  poem ;  it  does  not  belong 
there,  as  it  is  Saadia's  Preface  (nriTlQ)  to  the  'Azharot 
discussed  below.  The  superscription  y'nn  pJQ  is  an  in- 
vention of  the  editor,  as  in  the  MS.  the  poem  has  no  title ;  see 
Steinschneider,  CB.,  2206 ;  AL.,  p.  68,  n.  48.  The  same  poem 
was  more  correctly  edited  with  introduction  and  notes  by 
Joel  Miiller  in  Oeuvres  completes,  IX,  pp.  xviii-xxii,  57-69. 

Recently  the  poem  has  been  made  the  subject  of  an  Halakic 
Work  of  enormous  proportions  by  J.  F.  Perl  (K^"lJ/2)  of 
Warsaw,  a  private  scholar  of  means.  The  work,  three  parts 
in  four  volumes,  covering  no  less  than  2060  pages  in  folio, 
appeared  under  the  title  y'D"!!'  niVDH  "IDD,  Warsaw,  1914- 
1917. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  II— LITURGY  33i 

3.  'Azlidrot  (niintN),  Exhortations,  an  extensive  poem 
treating  of  the  613  precepts  and  their  derivation  from  the 
Decalogue,  edited  by  Rosenberg,  ihid.,  pp.  39-54.  The  intro- 
ductory poem  belonging  to  the  'Acharot  is  found  there,  pp. 
26-29  (see  above,  under  no.  2,  and  the  editor's  note,  p.  ii). 
The  'AzMrot  are  quoted  by  Rashi  to  Exodus,  24,  12.  A 
general  essay  by  Michael  Sachs  on  the  'AzhCirot  and  other 
poems  is  published  in  the  same  volume,  pp.  84-100;  comp. 
Brody,  JE.,  II,  369&,  370a,  bottom. 

4.  The  two  BakkasJwt  (mtJ^pn),  SuppHcations  (see  the  de- 
scription above,  pp.  153  f.).  Both  found  their  way  through 
unknown  channels  into  the  so-called  "  Romanian,"  that  is,  the 
Greco-Turkish  Ritual  (N'':)Dn  ^ITHD),  which  was  first  printed 
in  Constantinople  (1910;  Berliner,  Aus  nieiner  Bihliothek, 
p.  3),  and  thence  perhaps  into  several  other  Rituals  (see  CB., 
2211-2215,  and  especially  L.  Landshuth,  mnyn  ni^y, 
Berlin,  1862,  p.  293),  and  into  the  work  nriT  '•niDD  by 
Jehiel  MeUi,  Mantua,  1623.  In  all  the  ritual  editions  and 
MSS.  three  Hturgical  pieces  of  later  origin  have  been  added 
to  Saadia's  T\W\>1,  which  were  then  erroneously  attributed 
to  the  Gaon  by  some  bibliographers.  One,  beginning  in^nn 
n^nn  n^  px,  is  a  hymn  in  rhymed  prose  by  Solomon  b. 
EHjah  Sharbit  ha-Zahab  (14th  century)  and  was  prefixed 
to  the  second  ^^^'l,  beginning  nnSD  TiDtJ'  '•"',  while  the  two 
other  pieces,  which  are  anonymous,  are  found  in  the  middle 
and  at  the  end  of  the  first  HK^pn,  beginning  '•''  J^in  riDK 
inn^.  A  critical  edition  of  the  Bakkashot,  based  on  the 
printed  Rituals  and  on  MSS.  thereof,  was  published  by  Luz- 
zatto  in  the  Literaturblatt  des  Orients,  185 1,  pp.  387  fif. ; 
comp.  also  Luzzatto,  IDn  DID,  IV,  36-39.  By  that  time,  how- 
ever, Steinschneider  had  discovered  the  MS.  of  the  "IHD 
itself,  and  from  a  copy  made  by  him  the  first  T\^\>1 
was  printed  in  the  aforementioned  niP  of  Rosenberg  (pp. 
y^-yy),  while  the  second  was  reprinted  there  (pp.  78-83) 
from  the  edition  of  Luzzatto  in  the  Literaturblatt '^).     In 

*  For  the  sake  of  bibliographic  accuracy  it  should  be  stated  here 
that  except  for  this  one  Bakkashah,  printed  without  indicating  its 
source,  all  the  liturgical  compositions  of  Saadia,  as  also  those  of 
some    others  which   he  had   embodied   in   his  Siddiir    (the   mny 


332 


SAADIA  GAON 


passing  it  should  be  mentioned  that  in  the  rituals  and  hence 
in  the  edition  of  Luzzatto  and  in  the  mip,  the  second  Bak- 
kashah  is  throughout  in  the  plural,  voicing  the  prayers  of 
.the  whole  community  of  Israel.  This  is  not  its  original  form, 
as  it  appears  in  the  Siddur.  Saadia  intended  it  for  the  indi- 
vidual. The  rituals  adapted  it  for  the  public  worship  and 
therefore  changed  all  the  singulars  into  plurals.  Similar 
changes  were  made  by  the  congregations  in  a  ""ni  referred  to 
by  Harkavy,  \^:^r\,  II,  87  f .  Saadia's  Arabic  translation  of 
this  Bakkashah  is  also  in  the  singular;  comp.  Schechter, 
Saadyana,  no.  xxv,  verso;  Derenbourg,  Manuel  du  Lec- 
teur  (in  the  Journal  Asiatique,  1870),  p.  544,  n.  5. 

Finally  the  two  Bakkashot  were  edited  satisfactorily  on  the 
basis  of  a  careful  collation  of  the  MS.  with  the  edition  of 
Luzzatto  by  L.  Frumkin  in  his  voluminous  work,  the  1"ID 
n'p^n  Dn^y  ni,  Jerusalem,  1912,  part  I,  pp.  T''D  — 1"D,  II,  pp. 
n"JP  — x'^DP;  comp.  also  Schechter,  Saadyana,  nos.  xix, 
XX,  xxv. 

It  is  highly  interesting  to  note  that  Saadia's  second  Bak- 
kashah (nnan  TiQ^  ^^)  has  been  made  use  of  by  the  author  of 
a  Hebrew  version  of  the  Book  of  Tobit  published  by  M. 
Gaster  under  the  title  Two  Unknown  Hebrew  Versions  of 
Tobit,  London,  1897.  The  Hebrew  text,  which  is  considered 
by  the  editor  as  the  original  version  of  Tobit,  contains  several 
passages  taken  almost  literally  from  Saadia's  Bakkashah; 
comp.  ib.,  p.  vii,  and  V31P,  II,  78  f .  A  comparison  of  the  two 
texts  makes  it  clear  beyond  a  doubt  that  not  Saadia,  but  the 
author  of  the  version  was  the  borrower. 

It  should  also  be  noticed  that  most  of  the  second  Bak- 
kashah has  crept  into  the  Italian,  German,  and  Polish  Festi- 

or  PIDD  of  Jose  b.  Jose  and  another  'Ahodah,  beginning  T]T\^ 
nJJID)  found  in  the  j^lIP  of  Rosenberg  were  published  from  a  copy 
furnished  to  the  editor  by  Steinschneider  together  with  an  introduc- 
tory description  of  the  Bodleian  MS.  For  reasons  that  cannot  be 
discussed  here  the  editor  suppressed  the  introduction,  as  well  as  any 
indication  of  the  source  of  his  publication.  Subsequently  a  special 
pamphlet  was  published  by  Steinschneider  {Der  Siddur  des  Saadia 
Gaon,  Berlin,  1856),  giving  the  history  of  the  matter.  Comp.  alio 
J.  N.  Epstein,  Der  gaondische  Kommentar  ziir  Ordnung  Tohoroth, 
Berlin,  1915,  p.  132. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  II— LITURGY  3j.-^ 

val-rituals  (D"''n"iTnQ),  where  it  has  been  quite  variously 
treated,  showing  numerous  changes,  transpositions,  and 
additions ;  the  latter  being  in  part  older  than  Saadia.  In 
the  Polish  rituals  extensive  portions  of  this  Bakkdshah 
were  incorporated  into  the  Penitential  Prayers  (Selihot)  for 
the  Eve  of  New-Year,  beginning  ^H^  .  .  .  .  DHinx  nnn  n3t 
pV*i;  this  part  of  the  poem,  by  reason  of  its  content,  is  fre- 
quently designated  as  Widdiii  (Confession).  Portions  of 
Saadia's  text  are  here  interspersed  among  other  pieces  of 
different  origin.  The  early  incorporation  of  Saadia's  com- 
position into  these  liturgies  in  all  probability  led  various 
mediaeval  authors  to  refer  to  a  ''  Widdui  of  Saadia  "  ;  see  for 
details  on  this  matter  Dukes,  D^ronp  ^HJ,  p.  26;  Stein- 
schneider,  CB.,  221  s ;  Landshuth,  mnyn  niny,  pp.  294-297, 
with  numerous  references,  and  Zunz,  Literaturgeschichte  der 
synagogalen  Poesie,  p.  96,  no.  6;  comp.  also  Ha-Goren,  II, 
86;  ZfhB.,  X,  148,  top.  There  exists,  however,  another, 
short,  composition,  beginning  nn^J  Ti^t^,  quoted  by  Dukes 
{Zur  Kenntniss  der  neiihebrdischen  religiosen  Poesie,  p.  152) 
from  a  MS.  of  1308,  which  is  described  as:  nnyD  n^n  MT""!, 
but  Luzzatto  (Literaturblatt,  185 1,  p.  487)  and  Stein- 
schneider  (CB.,  2215)  deny  the  Gaon's  authorship,  assigning 
it  to  a  later  Saadia,  and  I  am  unable  to  reconcile  their  opinion 
with  the  fact  that  the  same  piece  is  now  printed  in  the 
n'?^r\  nif2V  m  110  of  Frumkin  (II,  p.  n'':)p),  who  states  ex- 
plicitly that  he  copied  it  from  the  MS.  of  Saadia's  Siddilr.  It 
is  true  that  the  MS.  contains  also  a  few  later  additions,  such 
as  'Adon  'Olam  (comp.  Frumkin,  I,  p.  ^'^3),  but  this  fact 
alone  does  not  disprove  Saadia's  authorship  in  the  case  of 
other  parts  of  the  Siddilr,  unless  there  is  some  other  internal 
or  external  evidence  against  it. 

5.  Hoshanot  (ri*iJytJ>1n),  Hymns  for  the  Feast  of  Taber- 
nacles, especially  the  seventh  day.  Of  these  21  were  published 
by  Kohut,  Die  Hoshanot  des  Gaon  R.  Saadia,  Breslau,  1893, 
who  gives  also  explanatory  notes  and  numerous  references  to 
the  literature  on  the  subject.  Kohut's  publication  is  based  on 
Yemenite  MSS.,  but  the  same  Hoshanot  are  found  also  in  the 
Siddilr  and  in  the  Aleppo  Mahj^or,  Venice,  1526;  see  Kohut, 
p.  5 ;  Neubauer,  Catalogue,  I,  no.  1096,  and  in  Semitic  Studies 


334  SAADIA  GAON 

in  Memory  of  Dr.  Alexander  Kohut,  pp.  388  f. ;  Berliner, 
Aus  meiner  Bihliothek,  Frankfurt  a/M.,  1898,  p.  7.  For 
additions  and  emendations  to  Kohut's  edition,  see  Halber- 
stam,  MGWJ.,  1895,  PP-  mf-;  comp.  S.  Sachs,  nnDDPl  nvi«, 
IV,  109 ;  Frumkin,  /.  c,  II,  384 ;  Bondi,  Der  Siddur  des  R. 
Saadia,  p.  37. 

6.  Selihdt  (nin^^D)  and  Tehinndt  (DlJnn),  Penitential  and 
Devotional  Prayers,  a  large  number  of  which  are  found  in  the 
MS.  of  the  Siddur,  as  also  in  other  MSS.  (CB.,  221 1),  some 
recently  found  in  the  Genizah  (Bondi,  p.  40) .  Steinschneider, 
CB.,  2210  f.,  quotes  from  the  Siddur  the  beginnings  of  50 
Selihdt,  23  of  which  were  destined  by  Saadia  for  the  Day  of 
Atonement;  and  2y  for  other  fast  days.  They  have  been 
characterized  by  Zunz  in  his  various  works;  see  the  refer- 
ences in  Landshuth's  mnyn  ni?Dy,  pp.  297-299.  Part  of  a 
Selihdh  was  metrically  translated  into  German  by  Zunz, 
Synagogale Poesie,  p.  164.  The  Tehinndt  (the  beginnings  of 
some  of  which  are  likewise  quoted  in  CB.,  221 1),  partly  Ara- 
maic, fill  the  last  ten  pages  of  the  MS.  of  the  Siddur,  which  is 
here  defective.  Nine  additional  pages  of  Tehinndt  were  later 
found  in  the  Genizah  (Bondi,  p.  40),  and  there  are  probably 
many  more  of  such  productions  among  the  Genizah  frag- 
ments. It  is  not  safe  to  assume  that  all  the  Hoshanot,  Selihot 
and  Tehinndt  in  theSiddur  were  composed  by  Saadia  himself. 
Some  of  them  he  probably  took  from  older  sources  and  incor- 
porated in  his  work,  just  as  he  did  with  the  minv  of 
Jose  b.  Jose  and  the  so-called  French  nJJ15  nniS  (comp. 
Luzzatto  in  Rosenberg's  r;i*iP,  pp.  107-110).  In  the  case  of 
the  Hdshandt  he  states  explicitly  that  there  existed  a  very 
large  number  of  them  (CB.,  2209;  Kohut,  p.  2).  The  solu- 
tion of  this  question  does  not  belong  here.  Many  of  these 
Piyyutim  have  found  their  way  anonymously  into  nearly 
all  the  festival  and  fast  day  rituals  in  MS.  and  in  print.  A 
detailed  enumeration  and  classification  of  the  individual 
pieces  transcends  the  scope  of  this  Bibliography  and  should 
be  undertaken  by  others  (see  Landshuth,  p.  298). 

The  numerous  quotations  from  the  Siddur  in  the  works  of 
mediaeval  authors,  often  without  explicit  mention  of  the 
source,  were  collected  among  citations  of  other  works  of 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  II— LITURGY  335 

Saadia  (a  quotation  in  the  11  ^5,  Zunz,  Zur  Geschichte,  p. 
549,  seems  to  have  been  overlooked)  by  Miiller,  Oeuvres, 
IX,  145-173;  comp.  ib.,  pp.  xxxviii-xl.  The  details  relating 
to  these  quotations  cannot  be  taken  up  here ;  comp.  Stein- 
schneider,  AL.,  p.  67,  n.  28. 

Very  numerous  extracts  from  the  MS.  of  the  Siddur  are 
given  by  Frumkin  in  his  Dnoy  in  niD  referred  to  above  (pp. 
332  f.).  Most  of  these  extracts  represent  Saadia's  text  of  the 
traditional  prayers,  such  as  Grace  after  meals,  the  Kiddilsh, 
Kaddish,  Kedushah,  Shemdneh-esreh,  Passover  Haggadah, 
and  many  others,  shov^ing  numerous  variants  in  the  phrase- 
ology, which  are  of  great  importance  for  the  history  of  Jewish 
liturgy.  There  are,  however,  among  the  extracts  piyyutim 
of  Saadia's  own  composition.  Frumkin's  index  is  rather 
confused.  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  passages  in  consecu- 
tive order,  omitting  a  few  minor  references:  I,  154,  184, 
194  f.,  D'^^p,  238,  242,  n'^DP,  n''np,  298,  t:''jp,  334,  360,  368, 
382;  II,  'X  a''D,  i"j,  T"D,  132,  n''Qf., '?,  n"pf.,  tD"p,  ^'p,  n"^p, 
286-288,  328,  T'DP,  352,  356,  384,  T'vp,  n"vp.  V')ip,  414. 

B.  Within  the  last  decades  there  have  come  to  light 
several  Hturgical  compositions  which  are  not  in  the  extant 
Siddur,  but  have  been  otherwise  identified  as  Saadia's.  These 
may  be  enumerated  in  the  order  of  publication : 

1.  Ta'ame  Tcki'dt  (niy^PD  ""DyD),  ten  Reasons  for  the 
Blowing  of  the  Shofar  on  New-Year's  Day,  embodied  in 
numerous  festival  rituals  in  the  name  of  Saadia,  translated 
into  German  by  Dukes,  Zur  Kenntniss  der  neuhehraischen 
reUgiosen  Poesie  (Frankf .  a/M.,  1842) ,  pp.  53  f.  It  was  also 
put  in  German  verse  by  S.  L.  Heilberg  in  his  CJDyj  ^yDJ, 
Breslau,  1847,  pp.  xiv  f.  According  to  Steinschneider,  CB., 
2205,  it  originally  formed  part  of  Saadia's  Commentary  on 
Leviticus,  2^^,  24  (see  above,  under  Bible,  letter  0).  The 
piece  is  printed  also  in  Miiller's  D"'D1P^,  Oeuvres,  IX, 
165  f.,  no.  106;  comp.  Rapoport.  y^HDl,  IX,  28,  n.  21. 

2.  Reshut  (r\)^1)  to  'Asharot,  an  introduction  containing 
a  division  into  24  or  25  classes  (comp.  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  IV 
(1913-1914),  p.  539,  n.  59)  of  the  613  precepts,  which  are 
treated  in  the  'Adiardt.  It  was  written  originally  in  Hebrew, 
but  only  the  Arabic  translation  of  the  first  20  classes  is  extant, 


336  SAADIA  GAON 

being  embodied  in  a  fragment  of  an  anonymous  Arabic  work. 
It  was  published  by  Neubauer,  JQR.,  VI  (1894),  705-7; 
comp.  Schechter,  Saadyana,  no,  xv;  JQR.,  1913-1914,  pp. 
539  ff.  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  p.  122,  is  unaware  of  Neu- 
bauer's  publication. 

3.  Hakkdfof  (niEprij,  a  number  of  hymns  for  recitation 
during  the  processional  circuits  around  the  almemar  on 
the  seventh  day  of  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  (Hosha'na 
Rabbah).  They  were  edited  by  Neubauer  in  Semitic 
Studies  in  Memory  of  A.  Kohut,  Berlin,  1897,  PP-  39^  f •, 
but  Halberstam  in  a  marginal  note  in  his  copy  of  the  afore- 
mentioned work  (now  in  the  Library  of  the  Jewish  Theo- 
logical Seminary  of  America,  from  which  it  was 
communicated  to  me  by  Professor  Marx)  called  attention  to 
the  fact  that  of  the  seven  Hakkafot  edited  by  Neubauer  only 
the  first  can  claim  the  Gaon's  authorship,  the  remaining  six 
having  been  added  by  a  later  author,  who  shows  familiarity 
with  the  Ten  Seiirdt,  a  Kabalistic  idea  of  subsequent  cen- 
turies. These  Hakkafot,  Halberstam  shows,  are  identical 
with  the  Hoshanot  in  the  Sefardic  ritual. 

4.  Liturgy  on  the  Ten  Commandments  for  the  Feast  of 
Weeks  (nnmn  '^t^'y  ^  nnvy^  mo)  in  several  sections,  fol- 
lowing the  order  of  ^"^  and  ?'^^^r\  alternately.  This  com- 
position, too,  was  edited  by  Neubauer  in  Semitic  Studies 
(see  the  preceding  number) ,  pp.  392-395.  On  the  basis  of  the 
date  851  occurring  in  the  text  (p.  394,  top)  the  editor  as- 
sumes in  a  note  ad  locum  that  the  liturgy  was  composed  in 
the  year  920,  that  is,  851  years  after  the  destruction  of  the 
Second  Temple,  but  Halberstam  in  the  manuscript  note  on 
the  margin  of  his  copy  (see  the  preceding  no.  3)  proved  that 
the  date  does  not  refer  to  the  destruction  of  the  Temple :  see 
for  the  interpretation  of  the  passage  Racher,  RE  J.,  XXXV, 
290-291,  who  gives  it  as  a  private  communication  of  Hal- 
berstam. The  latter,  Bacher  further  reports,  made  the  in- 
genious suggestion  that  the  words  Tyn  DDn  "in:!  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  composition  (p.  392,  1.  20)  contain  an  allusion  to 
Saadia  as  the  author;  for  their  numerical  value  (352)  is  the 
same  as  that  of  ^DV  \2  T^VD;  see  above,  note  332. 

5.  inn!'  pOTD,  "  Hymn  for  a  Bridegroom.  "  in  four  stanzas, 
each  containing  three  lines  with  a  double  rhyme  and  ending 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  II— LITURGY  3J7 

with  the  refrain  HDti'''  {sc.  n^52  jnn) .  It  was  published  from 
a  MS.  collection  of  old  piyyutim  by  S.  A.  Wertheimer  in 
D^^n^  '•TJX  III  (Jerusalem,  1902),  16  b  ;  comp.  ib.,  Introduc- 
tion, pp.  7  f.  For  the  refrain  see  Saphir,  n^DD  |n«,  1,  Si  b; 
nt)^*i  luno,  pp.  599,  602.* 

pnS  ^i^T3 

*ny;'  xSi  3:^;?  kS^  2-nv  n^n^  *^3t  ta^^nn  nS:D  dj 
.[hSd^  |nn]  najj^^ 

]nD  Sdd  Syjni  ]nx3  n^nn  hd^^ 

]^n«n  Sd  n:fS3  umn^  s|.-^^n  nD-'DJj'n  dSdjd 

l^nxn  :i*^p2  3nS  )ii>\  |ns-i  jnnn  hSd  dj 

nj3  Sj3i  ni'  Sdd  «:  nivn  nnni  nS'j 
«nn;r  n"?  niyinniD  n3TiS;'n  n^m^S:D  hSd  dj 

D^tynp:]  hSdhi  o-ityuSD^  jnnn 

o^iyiipr:  DH^jiyi  D^iyja  ns>  x^ni  d^b^jkd  na^  «in 

•D^ts^np  no::  'prj  Sxd  D^tynDa  Diu^  htd  nr 

WEDDING  SONG 

From  God's  treasury  of  light  may  thy  light  shine  forth  and  be  thou 

guarded  from  all  ill, 
Like  him  whom   God  created  aforetime,   who   gave  names  to   all 

creatures. 
Be  the  bride  blessed  with  a  son  like  him  that  smote  the  rock;  nor 

suffer  pain,  nor  grieve  for  barrenness. 

Rejoice,   O   bridegroom,   in   thy  bride! 

*  Among  the  numerous  poetic  productions  of  Saadia  this  poem 
is  the  only  one  known  of  a  rather  secular  nature.  The  EngUsh  trans- 
lation was  prepared  by  Dr.  Solomon  Solis  Cohen  of  Philadelphia : 

^Read  nv\  allusion  to  Adam;  see  Ps.  139,  5,  Gen.  2,  20. 
"Allusion  to  Moses,  Numbers,  20,  11;  Ps.  78,  20. 
'Allusion  to  Noah,  Gen.  9,  19. 

*  Abraham,  Gen.  12,  5 ;  see  Bereshit  rabbah,  c.  39,  14. 
^  Sarah,  Gen.  18,  12. 

'  Ps.  89,  8. 
22 


338  SAADIA  GAON 

Mayest  thou  be  a  blessing  in  the  land,  mayest  thou  be  spared  mis- 
fortune, 

Like  him  that  escaped  the  flood,  and  with  his  offspring  peopled  all 
the  earth. 

May  the  bride  delight  in  her  husband ;  may  they  grow  to  a  multitude 
in  the  land. 

Rejoice,  O  bridegroom,  in  thy  bride! 

Mirth  and   happiness   encompass   thee,   joys   thronging   from  every 
side, 

As  with  him  that  made  souls  in  Haran,  and  brought  them  under  the 
wings  of  the  Shekinah. 

May  thy  bride  be  thrilled  with  thy  caresses ;  and  in  age  be  her  youth 
renewed. 

Rejoice,  O  bridegroom,  in  thy  bride! 

The  bridegroom  in  his  gay  attire,  the  bride  bedecked  with  rich  wed- 
ding gifts — 

Is  he  not  handsomest  of  men?     Is  not  she  fairest  among  women? 
O  beauteous  twain  made  one ! 

May  they  be  blessed  with  a  special  blessing  by  Him  that  is  revered 
in  the  council  of  the  holy  ones. 

Rejoice,  O  bridegroom,  in  thy  bride! 

6.  A  few  fragmentary  Piyyutim  in  Schechter's  Saadyana, 
nos.  xvii,  xxii,  xxiii.  The  Selihah  for  the  Fast  of  Gedaliah 
(no.  xviii),  beginning  n^<n  ItJ^ni  ^t^s:  n^nx,  is  printed  in 
numerous  rituals  and  is  found  also  in  the  MS.  of  Saadia's 
Siddur,  so  also  Saadyana^  no.  xxi,  for  which  see  Stein- 
schneider,  CB.,  2210;  Neubauer  and  Cowley,  Catalogue, 
II,  nos.  2720,  18;  2847,  II-  In  the  K^"nn^  2PV'>  ^^HN  nUHD, 
the  ritual  for  the  New- Year  Festival  according  to  the  Sefar- 
dim,  with  a  learned  commentary  by  the  editor,  Jacob  Izha- 
kovitch,  Jerusalem,  1908,  the  latter  erroneously  remarks 
(p.  T["^\>)  that  the  author  of  the  aforementioned  Selihah  is 

not  known  (nnn^  yniJ  x^). 

7.  'Abodah,  beginning  DlpO  rT"  DTI^^^,  in  fourn"fc<,  incom- 
plete, ending  with  the  first  line  of  the  letter  V,  published  by 
Elbogen,  Studien  ziir  Geschichte  des  jildischen  Gottes- 
dienstes,  Berlin,  1907,  pp.  122-125 ;  comp.  Elbogen's  char- 
acterization of  the  'Abodah,  ib.,  p.  83. 

8.  Tokehah  (nniDin,  Arabic  n''ri1^)»  an  extensive  poem 
arranged  according  to  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  with  four 
lines  to  each   letter.     It  was  published  with   introduction 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  II— LITURGY  339 

and  explanatory  notes  by  H.  Brody,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  Ill 
(1912-1913),  pp.  83-99,  who  had  previously  pubHshed  part  of 
it  in  Berliner's  Festschrift,  pp.  9-1 1;  comp.  Bacher's  notes 
and  corrections  to  Brody's  edition,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  Vol.  IV 
(1913-14),  pp.  iigi.  [For  a  couplet  on  Purim  see  JQR., 
N.  S.,  XI,  465,  n.  32.] 

For  a  general  characterization  of  Saadia  as  a  liturgist  see 
Zunz,  Literatiirgeschichte,  pp.  93-98,  and  lately  Elbogen, 
Der  judische  Gottesdienst,  Leipzig,  1913,  pp.  321-324. 

There  is  one  more  composition  to  be  accounted  for  here. 
This  is  Saadia's  "  Poem  on  the  Number  of  Letters  "  (see 
above,  pp.  154  ff.),  which,  not  being  liturgical,  must  be  con- 
sidered separately.  The  Poem  appears  under  different  titles. 
The  MSS.  in  Neubauer's  Catalogue,  1,  nos.  79,  869,  have 
niTilxn  ^y  nunn,  the  fragment  in  Saadyana,  p.  52,  has  only 
D'^n^  DVD,  while  some  editions  have  '^'^^  instead  of  nimn. 
In  Derenbourg's  Manuel  du  lecteur  the  title  is  merely 
niTilt^n  fJD,  while  in  Benjacob's  Thesaurus  it  is  recorded 
as  nnyo  nm  nrnix  (see  Harkavy,  np^l,  I,  46).  From 
Saadyana,  no.  xvi  (1.  i  recto  and  1.  3  verso)  it  would  appear 
that  the  original  title  was,  as  in  Derenbourg's  Manuel,  pJ^ 
nrnixn  and  that  ^^^  or  ^V  nnnn  is  a  later  modification. 

The  poem  has  been  repeatedly  published  in  connection  with 
other  works;  the  first  time  in  Elijah  Levita's  JllDDn  niDD, 
Venice,  1538,  also  with  a  Latin  translation  by  the  elder  Bux- 
torf  in  his  work  on  the  Masorah,  Tiberias,  Basle,  1620,  p. 
183  (second  edition,  Basle,  1665,  p.  171  ;  comp.  Stein- 
schneider,  ZfhB.,  II,  94),  and  by  Fiirst  in  his  Concordance, 
p.  1379.  For  other  editions  see  Steinschneider,  Biblio- 
graphisches  Handbuch,  Leipzig,  1859,  p.  121,  where  no  less 
than  twelve  editions  are  enumerated.  To  these  are  still  to  be 
added:  (i)  In  Chr.  D.  Ginsburg's  edition  of  Levita's  mOD 
nno^n,  London,  1867,  pp.  269-278  ;  (2)  in  his  The  Massorah, 
vol.  I,  London,  1880,  letter  N,  §  224  (from  a  MS.  in  the 
British  Museum,  Or.  1379;  comp.  Blau,  JQR.,  VIII,  348, 
n.  i),  and  (3)  in  J.  Derenbourg's  Manuel  du  lecteur.  Journal 
Asiatique,  1870,  pp.  447-457  (separate  edition,  pp.  139-149)  ; 
comp.  the  general  discussion  ib.,  pp.  542-549  (234-241). 


340  SAADIA  GAON 

In  Samuel  Ashkenazi's  collection  riDDn  ni^llJ,  Basle,  1629- 
163 1,  which  contains  our  poem  (fol.  196) ,  the  latter  is  for  the 
first  time  ascribed  to  one  Saadia  b.  Joseph,  surnamed  Bekor 
Shor,  and  the  father  of  this  Saadia  is  supposed  to  be  identical 
with  the  famous  French  Bible  exegete  Joseph  Bekor  Shor  of 
the  I2th  century.  Zunz  {Ziir  Geschichte,  p.  75),  Luzzatto 
(Literaturblatt  des  Orients,  XII,  132),  Steinschneider,  {Bih- 
liographisches  Handhuch,  p.  121,  and  CB.,  2225),  and  others, 
following  the  testimony  of  Ashkenazi,  denied  the  Gaon's 
authorship  of  this  poem  and  ascribed  it  likewise  to  this 
Saadia  Bekor  Shor,  whose  name  does  not  occur  elsewhere  in 
Jewish  literature  (comp.  Azulai,  D^^n:in  DK^,  ed.  Ben- 
jacob,  I,  150).  Derenbourg,  Manuel,  pp.  542  (234)  ff., 
has  shown  on  general  grounds  the  untenability  of  this  view 
and  attributes  the  poem  to  the  Gaon ;  comp.  also  ib.,  p.  449 
(141),  n.  13.  He  is  followed  by  Bacher,  JE.,  II,  649,  who 
properly  proposes  to  strike  the  name  of  Saadia  Bekor  Shor 
from  the  list  of  Jewish  authors  altogether.  This  view  is  now 
fully  borne  out  and  the  Gaon's  authorship  positively  estab- 
lished by  the  Genizah  fragment  in  Schechter's  Saadyana 
no.  xxvi  (comp.  Poznanski,  Schechters  Saadyana,  p.  10, 
n.  2),  which  contains  part  of  the  poem  and  explicitly  men- 
tions the  Gaon  twice  as  its  author;  comp.  Neubauer,  Cata- 
logue, I,  p.  969 ;  Lambert,  in  Harkavy's  Festschrift,  p.  390, 

n.4.*). 

*  The  mistake,  I  believe,  has  the  following  origin.  The  name  of 
the  Gaon  is  current  in  Hebrew  literature  merely  as  PinyD  1^3*1,  very 
often  Hi^^  nnyO  '"l,  and  sometimes  ^Oin^DH  HnVD  'l,  but  very 
rarely  ^iDV  ]1  HnVD  '1.  The  editor  who  probably  found  the  title 
"  Saadia  b.  Joseph  "  may  have  failed  to  identify  the  name  with  that 
of  the  Gaon  and,  as  among  the  few  Josephs  of  the  earlier  Middle 
Ages  who  dealt  with  Hebrew  grammar  and  Bible  exegesis  (as  Joseph 
Kimhi),  Bekor  Shor  was  one  of  the  most  prominent,  he  volunteered 
this  unfounded  addition  to  the  name  of  Joseph.  This  lack  of  criti- 
cism should  not  surprise  us  in  a  sixteenth  century  author.  Elijah 
Levita,  otherwise  an  excellent  scholar,  who,  as  mentioned  before, 
edited  our  poem,  gives  as  a  reason  for  attributing  it  to  Saadia  Gaon 
the  fact  that  "  difficult  and  strange  words,  like  those  occurring  therein, 
have  been  used  by  Saadia  in  his  Sefer  Emtinot"     It  shows  that 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  III—HALAKAH  34i 

S.  Eppenstein  (Beitrage,  p.  123,  n.  i),  not  knowing  of  the 
existence  of  the  poem  and  the  Hterature  thereon,  informs 
the  reader  that  in  the  Genizah  fragment  in  Schechter's 
Saadyana  we  have  '*'  one  of  the  hitherto  unknown  Hturgical 
poems  of  Saadia"(-)-  O^^  the  same  page  he  attributes  to 
Saadia  an  Arabic  commentary  on  the  daily  Shemoneh-  Esrch 
("  eine  Erklarung  der  Tefilla  ") ,  and  counts  this  commentary 
among  "  the  otherwise  unknown  poetical  writings  "  of  the 
Gaon.  He  was  led  to  this  curious  mistake  by  the  fragment 
in  Saadyana,  no.  xxv,  which  bears  the  heading  I^DSn 
y'T  nnyo  '^'7  TiStJ'  ^''\  followed  by  three  lines  of  the 
Arabic  text.  This  text,  however,  is  Saadia's  Arabic  trans- 
lation of  his  own  second  Bakkashah  (see  above,  p.  153), 
which  is  introduced  by  the  verse  nnsn  ^DDtJ'  '•''''  (Ps.,  51, 
17),  as  is  the  Shemoneh-Esreh.  Hence  Eppenstein's  error. 
A  comparison  of  this  fragment  with  that  in  Saadyana,  no. 
XX,  might  have  helped  him  out  of  the  difficulty. 

III.  HALAKAH 

A.    METHODOLOGY 

I.  Kitdh  al'Madhal  ['ila  al-Talmud]  (^ino^i<  nXDD 
[TID^n^X  ^^«]),  "Book  of  Introduction  [to  the  Talmud]." 
The  earliest  references  to  this  work  are  found  in  an  ancient 
book-list,  coming  from  the  Genizah,  which  was  published  by 
Bacher,  REJ.,  XXXIX  (1899),  200,  no.  2^,  and  in  a  frag- 
ment of  a  similar  list  in  Schechter's  Saadyana,  no.  xlvii 
(p.    128).      Five    passages    from   the    Arabic    original    of 

Levita  thought  Saadia,  who  wrote  in  Arabic,  to  be  the  author  of  the 
Hebrew  translation  {L  e.  the  anonymous  Paraphrase;  comp.  Zunz,  in 
Geiger's  Jiidische  Zeitschrift,  X,  6)  ;  comp.  Dukes,  Beitrage,  IT,  102 ; 
Steinschneider,  CB.,  2225 ;  Derenbourg,  Manuel,  p.  548  (240)  ;  Gins- 
burg,  /.  c.  p.  269. 

It  is,  finally,  worth  noticing  that  the  addition  of  Bekor  Shor  to 
Joseph  (based  on  Deuter.,  33,  17)  was  made  in  several  other  instan- 
ces, either  by  the  bearers  of  the  name  Joseph  themselves,  or  by 
others  (see  Poznanski,  Ity^^X  '']^  I^V  nni  ^XPTH^  '?V  mi^ 
■•VJ^I^nD,  p.  Iviii,  top),  so  that  in  our  case  it  is  not  even  necessary 
to  assume  that  the  real  Joseph  Bekor  Shor  was  meant ;  comp.  Rapo- 
port  y''nD2,  XI,  84,  who,  as  I  found  later,  proposes  the  same  solution. 


342  SAADIA  GAON 

Saadia  in  a  Hebrew  translation  are  cited  by  the  famous 
sixteenth  century  Talmudist  Bezalel  Ashkenazi,  Rabbi  in 
Egypt  and  later  (1558)  in  Jerusalem.  The  middle  section 
of  Bezalel's  work,  called  "lin^nn  ""^^r),  in  which  the  citations 
occur,  was  recently  published  by  Marx  from  a  unique  MS. 
of  The  Jewish  Theological  Seminary,  in  the  Festschrift  of 
David  Hoffmann,  Berlin,  1914,  Hebrew  part,  pp.  179-217 ;  see 
ib.,  pp.  196  f.  (nos.  228,  229),  204  (no.  319),  210  (nos.  369, 
372).  The  passages  were  partly  reproduced  from  Bezalel's 
work  by  Solomon  Algazi  (17th  century)  and  by  Azulai  and 
thence  by  Miiller,  Oeuvres,  ix,  168,  nos.  119,  121;  comp. 
Marx,  ib.,  German  part,  p.  375,  n.  4;  Steinschneider,  AL., 
p.  50,  no.  10 ;  Harkavy  D^J1x:!n  nnit^D,  p.  399,  note  to  p.  392  ; 
Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  163.  The  fragment  published  in  JQR., 
Xni,  55,  no.  92  (see  also  ib.,  p.  330)  is  perhaps  from  our 
work.  It  should  be  noted  that  the  Arabic  title  does  not  ex- 
pressly state  that  the  work  is  an  introduction  to  the  Talmud, 
though  it  doubtless  was.  Bezalel  emphasizes  the  fact  that 
Saadia  called  the  work  lID^Tin  ^'2'^^.  For  a  possible  identifi- 
cation of  this  work  with  the  V^^lti^^^  nXDD  see  below.  Bibli- 
ography, section  VH,  p.  400,  no.  13. 

2.  nnD  :i''''  t^^nc,  "  Commentary  on  the  13  Hermeneutic 
Rules."  Derenbourg  reported  that  he  had  seen  the  Arabic 
original  among  the  MSS.  of  the  late  Baron  Giinzburg;  see 
Miiller,  Oeuvres,  IX,  p.  xxiii.  The  Hebrew  translation 
was  first  published  by  Schechter,  mo^n  n^n,  IV  (1885), 
235-244,  and  then  by  Miiller,  Oeuvres,  IX,  73-83 ;  comp.  ib., 
pp.  xxiii,-xxxiii,  xHi ;  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  50,  no.  11, 
whose  doubts  as  to  Saadia's  authorship  can  no  longer  be 
justified;  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  162  f.  As  to  the  anti- 
Karaite  tendency  of  the  work  suspected  by  Schechter  in  his 
Introduction  to  the  edition,  see  Poznanski,  JQR.,  X,  258  f ., 
RE  J.,  XL  VII,  136;  above,  note  548. 

B.    COMMENTARIES 

I.  nnnn  nSD^D  ^y  n^<^  nnVD  an  tJ^ns,  "Commentary 
on  the  Tractate  Berakot/'  published  from  a  Genizah  MS.  in 
the  Arabic  original  with  a  Hebrew  translation,  Introduction, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  III—HALAKAH  343 

and  notes  by  S.  A.  Wertheimer,  Jerusalem,  1908  (see  RE  J., 
LVIII,  150 ;  above,  note  360) .    Its  authenticity  is  maintained 
by  Ginzberg-,  Gconica,  I,  164,  and  Aptowitzer,  MOW  J.,  LI  I 
(1908),  302,  but  doubted,  respectively  denied,  by  Eppen- 
stein,  Beitrdge,  p.   118,  n.  3   {MOW J.,  191 1,  p.  65,  n.  4), 
and  Poznanski,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  Ill  (1912-1913),  p.  410, 
and  more  recently  again  by  J.  N.  Epstein,  Der  gaondische 
Kommentar  zur  Ordnung  Tohoroth,  Berlin,  191 5,  pp.  29  ff. 
There  is  no  conclusive  evidence  for  either  side ;  but  so  much 
appears  certain  that  in  its  present  form  the  Commentary  is 
not  the  work  of  Saadia.  On  the  other  hand,  the  short  passage 
given  in  the  MS.  explicitly  in  the  name  of  Saadia  and  placed 
by  the  editor  at  the  beginning  of  the  Commentary  (see  his 
Introduction,  p.  11 ;  Epstein,  /.  c,  p.  31)  is  admitted  as  genu- 
ine even  by  those  who  otherwise  deny  Saadia's  authorship. 
Several  other  passages  in  the  Commentary  make  it  also  very 
probable  that  the  compiler  made  use  of  a  commentary  by 
Saadia  on  the  same  tractate   (see  above,  note  360).     The 
niDin  lbt<D^K    (Vocabulary  of  Berakot),  mentioned  in  the 
ancient  Hst,  JQR.,   XIII,   54,  no.  45    (comp.   also    n^DSn, 
TiO^n^fe?  ibNS^X,  ih.,  no.  67,  and  Bacher,  REJ.,  XXXIX,  203), 
may  well  refer  to  the  work  in  question,  for  though  it  does 
not  bear  Saadia's  name,  there  are  in  the  same  list  other  books 
which  are  positively  known  as  Saadia's  (see  nos.  32,  59,  69, 
yy),  and  yet  his  name  is  not  added  (comp.  this  Bibliography, 
below,  section  VII,  p.  396,  no.  3).    There  is,  indeed,  no  more 
reason  to  ascribe  it,  with  Poznanski  {JQR.,  XIII,  326,  no 
45,  and  Schechter's  Saadyana,  p.  21,  no.  7),  to  Sherira  or  Hai 
than  to  Saadia.  For  it  is  now  certain  that  like  Hai,  Saadia  too 
wrote  commentaries  on  the  Mishnah,  which  he  may  have 
extended  also  to  some  tractates  of  the  Talmud.     Thus,  it 
has  recently  been  established  that  the  so-called    ^V    tJ^ns, 
nnntD    no  quoted  by  many  mediaeval  authors  as  a  work  of 
Hai  and  published  under  his  name  by  J.  Rosenberg  in  the 
n^JlDIP    D^J1J^3    n^    ••iJ^yD    rniP,   Berlin,   1856,   I,   1-55,  is 
essentially  a  work  of   Saadia  redacted  by  a  later  author 
(J.  N.  Epstein,  /.  c,  pp.  29-36;  comp.  above,  note  387).  Like 
the  C'nQ  on  Berakot  so  also  the  one  on  Teharot  is  but  a  col- 


344  SAADIA  GAON 

lection  of  short  glosses  and  lexical  notes  (see  the  detailed 
characterization  of  Epstein)  and  as  in  the  case  of  the 
niDin  bKQ^K  so  in  that  of  the  nJK^O^K  bXD^X,  mentioned  in 
the  Genizah  list  (Saadyana,  p.  79;  Poznanski,  Schechters 
Saadyana,  p.  21,  no.  7)  it  is  a  work  of  Saadia  that  is  referred 
to ;  comp.  also  nJtJ'D  lyiDl  D^nt  DKD^K,  REJ.,  XXXIX,  p. 
200,  no.  33,  for  which  again  Bacher,  ib.,  p.  203,  unnecessarily 
suggests  Sherira  or  Hai  as  authors.  See  also  above,  notes 
359,  590;  Epstein,  /.  c,  pp.  152  f.  To  the  class  of  Mishnah- 
commentaries  by  Saadia  belongs  also  the  niDN^D  nnj^  T'DDD 
for  which  see  above,  note  366. 

C.    CODIFICATION 

I.  Kitdb  al-MawdrU  (nnNIO^N  3J<nD),  "Book  on  the 
Laws  of  Inheritance,"  first  discovered  by  Steinschneider  in 
a  Bodleian  MS.  (CB.,  2160;  Bihliotheca  Mathematica,  1894, 
p.  102 ;  idem,  Vorlesungen  iiber  die  Kunde  hebrdischer  Hand- 
schriften,  Leipzig,  1897,  P-  34)-  ^^  i^Qi  S.  Fuchs  first 
copied  the  MS.,  gave  a  survey  of  its  contents,  and  translated 
a  portion  thereof  into  Hebrew  (npinn,  I,  9-12,  41  f.).  Joel 
Miiller  then  edited  the  whole  in  Oeuvres  completes  de 
Saadia,  IX  (Paris,  1897),  1-53.  The  Arabic  text  is  accom- 
panied by  a  Hebrew  translation  (prepared  by  S.  Horovitz 
under  the  title  nitJ^ITTl  HDD),  introduction,  and  notes  with 
additions  by  Harkavy ;  comp.  Goldziher,  ''Observations," 
REJ.,  XXXVIII,  270 ;  Steinschneider,  Die  hebrdischen 
Uebersetzungen  des  Mittelalters,  p.  xxiii ;  idem,  Ar- 
abische  Mathematiker,  in  Peiser's  Orientalistische  Littera- 
turzeitung,  Berlin,  1904,  no.  6,  pp.  206  f.,  where  the  general 
character  of  the  work  in  its  relation  to  similar  works  of 
Muhammedan  authors  is  minutely  discussed;  comp.  also 
Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  48,  and  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  165  f . 
The  work  is  mentioned  in  several  Genizah  lists :  REJ., 
XXXII,  127;  JQR.,  XIII,  54,  no.  42;  comp.  Neubauer  and 
Cowley,  Catalogue,  II,  2827,  3. 

*  The  works  preserved  entirely  or   in  fragments  come  first,   the 
others,  known  only  from  quotations,  follow  in  alphabetical  order. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  III—HALAKAH  345 

2.  Ahkdm  al-Wadia  (nyni^t<  DNDn«),  ''Laws  on 
Pledges."  Two  considerable  Arabic  fragments  were  pub- 
lished by  Schechter,  Saadyana,  nos.  xi-xii,  where  the 
above  title  occurs  twice.  The  book  is  also  mentioned,  under 
a  somewhat  different  title  (which  seems  to  refer  to  an 
abridged  edition  of  the  original,  hence  fiym^X  "liVniD),  in 
an  old  Responsum  (Harkavy,  D^Jlt<:in  ninitJTi,  no.  454; 
comp.  ih.,  p.  393,  top,  reprinted  in  Oeuvres,  IX,  146,  no.  8), 
[and  JQR.,  N,  S.,  XI,  425]  ;  comp.  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p. 
49,  no.  5,  where  for  362  read  393 ;  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  166 ; 
Poznanski,  Schechter  s  Saadyana,  p.  4;  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  Ill 
(1912-1913),  p.  410.  Mediaeval  authors  (see  Dukes  ^HJ, 
D"'0'np,  p.  25)  quote  the  book  also  under  the  Hebrew  title 
inpan  "iDD,  see  Steinschneider,  /.  c.  The  fragment  recently 
edited  by  I.  Friedlander  under  this  title  as  the  treatise  of 
Saadia  (Isr.  Lewy's  Festschrift,  pp.  60-72)  belongs  to  a 
work  of  a  later  author;  see  Friedlander,  MGWJ.,  191 1, 
p.  501 ;  Poznanski,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  Ill  (1912-1913),  p.  410. 

3.  Kitdh  al-Shahddah  zval-Watdik  (nnxntJ^^X  nNn3 
P"'Xr)1^X1 ),  "  Book  on  Testimony  and  Contracts,"  quoted  by 
Hebrew  authors  (see  below)  under  the  title  nil Dti^  nSD.  A 
small  Arabic  Fragment  containing  the  introductory  lines  of 
this  treatise  was  published  with  an  English  translation  by 
Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XVI,  294,  299.  The  definition  of  truth 
given  in  this  fragment  is  found,  partly  in  the  same  words, 
in  the  Kitdb  al-Amdndt,  p.  16,  11.  4  f.  Saadia  says  here  ex- 
plicitly that  this  treatise  is  the  first  in  a  series  of  his  writings 
on  civil  law,  and  that  he  chose  the  subject  of  testimony 
first,  because  the  people  had  special  need  of  its  elucidation. 
Two  passages  from  this  treatise  are  reproduced  in  Arabic 
by  Saadia's  opponent  R.  Mubashshir  (lE^no),  quoted  by 
Harkavy,  Oeuvres,  IX,  p.  xxxvii,  no.  2  (comp.  also  his 
ntjtj^i  D3  D''^in,  I,  no.  9).  The  treatise  is  mentioned  in  the 
Genizah  lists,  JQR.,  XIII,  55,  no.  78 ;  p.  329,  no.  yS ;  Saady- 
ana, p.  128  (where  read  ^)^?^«^t^'^^?  ""Q  for  nKi:n  ti'^^Q)  ; 
REJ.,  XXXII,  200,  no.  38  (comp.  Bacher,  ad  locum,  p.  203)  ; 
[JQR.,  N.  S.,  XI,  425],  perhaps  also  in  no.  2760,  13,  of  Neu- 
bauer  and  Cowley's  Catalogue,  II;  comp.  Poznanski,  ZfhB.. 


346  SAADIA  GAON 

X,  141.  For  quotations  of  the  treatise  in  the  works  of 
Hebrew  authors  see  Rapoport,  V"'r\'21,  xi,  83;  Oeuvres,  IX, 
145,  nos.  I,  4;  p.  150,  no.  22;  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  49, 
no.  6  (where  for  "  Lese  n.  40  "  read  Lese,  nos.  i,  4,  22)  ', 
Harkavy,  D"':i«;n  Dlllti^n,  p.  362,  bottom ;  Judah  b.  Barzillai, 
nnotJ^n  'D,  ed.  Halberstam,  Berhn,  1898,  p.  55,  n.  3. 

4.  Tafsir  al-Ardyot  (nriy!^K  "i''DDn),  "  Interpretation  of 
the  Laws  of  Incest,"  of  which  a  lengthy  Arabic  fragment 
(four  leaves)  was  edited  with  an  English  translation  and 
introductory  remarks  by  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XVII,  713-720. 
Another  portion  of  the  same  work  seems  to  be  embodied  in 
an  Arabic  fragment  edited  by  Schechter,  Saadyana,  no.  xvi, 
p.  44,  11.  17  ff. ;  comp.  Poznahski,  The  Karaite  Literary  Op- 
ponents of  Saadiah,  p.  7,  n.  3,  and  p.  99 ;  idem,  Zur  jUdisch- 
arabischen  Literatur,  p.  42.  A  lengthy  quotation  in  Hebrew 
was  published  from  a  MS.  work  of  the  Karaite  Jeshu'ah  b. 
Judah  (nth  century)  by  Steinschneider,  in  DTI^"*  "Ditt, 
edited  by  Joseph  Kohen-Zedek,  Lemberg,  1856,  III,  176, 
partly  also  in  CB.,  2163,  reprinted  by  Miiller,  Oeuvres,  IX, 
171  f.,  no.  136.  The  work  of  Jeshu'ah  under  the  title  'IQD 
ninyn  has  since  been  edited  by  J.  Markon,  St.  Petersburg, 
1908,  where  the  passage  occurs  on  pp.  151-152;  comp.  Poz- 
nanski,  Karaite  Literary  Opponents,  p.  53.  The  arable  title 
of  Saadia's  work  is  not  preserved.  The  title  given  above  is 
based  on  the  citation  of  Jeshu'ah,  who  has  DViyn  Il^lDQ.  In 
the  body  of  the  Arabic  fragment  Saadia  repeatedly  uses  the 
arabicized  Hebrew  term  nviy^i<  and  applies  to  it  the  verb 
nOD  (See  Hirschfeld,  /.  c,  p.  717,  11.  15,  29-32).  Azulai, 
D''^n:n  DtJ^,  ed.  Benjacob  I,  150  f.,  mentions  a  book  on 
\\^^1  niDt?,  which  may  refer  to  the  work  before  us.  I  must 
admit,  however,  that  although,  following  the  bibliographers 
here  referred  to,  I  have  placed  this  treatise  among  those 
dealing  with  the  codification  of  the  law,  I  am  not  at  all  con- 
vinced that  it  actually  belongs  here,  or  that  a  work  of  Saadia 
under  that  title  was  composed  separately.  Neither  the  Arabic 
fragments  nor  the  Hebrew  quotations  and  references  fur- 
nish sufficient  evidence  for  such  assumption.  I  am  rather 
inclined  to  think  that  we  have  here  an  extract  from  Saadia's 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  III—HALAKAH  ZA7 

commentary  on  Leviticus,  i8,  which,  like  some  other  sections 
of  his  lengthy  Pentateuch  commentary,  may  have  circu- 
lated separately  and  may  thus  be  identical  with  the  1"'DDn 
niD  nnx,  in  Schechter's  Saadyana,  no.  xxxvii  (p.  79, 
1.  7)  ;  see  below,  section  VII,  p.  396,  no.  3 ;  comp.  Stein- 
schneider,  AL.,  p.  49,  no.  8.  That  the  passage  in  Oeuvres, 
IX,  p.  35,  n.  I  (comp.  Miiller,  end  of  the  Introduction,  p. 
xvii)  refers  to  the  work,  is  not  certain. 

5.  Kitdb  al-  Terefot  (mDIt:)^^^  nxriD),  "Book  on  For- 
bidden Food."  A  treatise  with  this  title  is  mentioned  twice 
in  a  Genizah  fragment,  Schechter,  Saadyana,  no.  xxvii,  while 
no.  xlix  represents  a  small  portion  of  the  treatise  (in  Arabic 
characters,  which  is  a  very  rare  occurrence).  Another 
fragment  in  two  different  recensions,  one  covering  four 
and  the  other  two  leaves,  is  found  in  the  Imperial  Library 
of  St.  Petersburg  (see  below,  p.  349,  no.  10).  A  short 
extract  from  each  of  the  two  recensions  was  given  by  Har- 
kavy,  Oeuvres,  IX,  p.  xxxvii  (see  Ha-Goren,  I,  91).  Both 
MSS.  bear  the  title  ^D^^t^'  nn^n,  under  which  title  a  frag- 
ment is  found  also  in  the  Bodleian  Library  (Neubauer  and 
Cowley,  Catalogue,  no.  2854A,  7 ;  comp.  also  Saadyana,  no. 
xxxvii,  p.  79,  1.  10).  The  title  nN^:3D^X  3^<r)D  (Griinhut, 
MGWJ.,  L.  (1906),  88,  quotes  n'-XJD^X?)  referred  to  by 
Poznanski,  Schechtefs  Saadyana,  p.  18,  perhaps  misspelt 
for  nVJD  (maniyya  =  death),  expresses  the  same  idea  as 
nianD^fc?  n«n3  or  ntO^ntJ'.  It  is  hard  to  decide  which  was  the 
original  title ;  probably  the  former,  which  was  replaced  in 
some  texts  by  the  more  usual  terms  niDID  and  riD^nti',  since 
all  the  laws  designated  by  these  terms  were  probably  included 
in  the  work.  For  further  references  see  Steinschneider,  AL., 
p.  49,  no.  9.  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  pp.  121,  217,  failing  to 
perceive  the  identity  of  the  two  works,  speaks  of  two  dif- 
ferent treatises,  on  n^^n^  and  n^Q^D. 

6.  Kawl  ii'l-Rihd  (xni^X  ^D  ^ip),  "Treatise  on  Usury." 
This  is  the  heading  of  a  fragment  from  the  Genizah  pub- 
lished by  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XVIII,  119  f.  No  reference  to 
it  elsewhere  is  known  to  me. 


348  SAADIA  GAON 

y.  nnnDI  HKDD  -iDD,  "  On  Defilement  and  Purity,"  quoted 
by  several  mediaeval  authors,  see  Rapoport,  D^nyn  niDn. 
IX,  28,  n.  19;  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2162,  no.  8,  AL.,  p.  49, 
no.  7;  Miiller,  Oeuvres,  IX,  159,  no.  74.  The  treatise  is 
mentioned  also  in  the  Genizah  lists,  REJ.,  XXXIX,  200, 
no.  13  (comp.  ih.,  p.  205,  no.  2),  and  Saadyana,  no. 
xxxvii,  in  the  latter  place  under  the  title  mntDI  Hi^DD  nVDDD 
"  Compendium  on  Defilement  and  Purity " ;  comp.  Poz- 
nanski,  Zur  jiidiscJi-arahischen  Literatur,  p.  41  f .  Accord- 
ing to  Rapoport,  /.  c,  p.  22,  and  Steinschneider,  /.  c,  this 
treatise  and  the  one  mentioned  below,  no.  10,  formed  one 
work,  a  view  which  seems  to  be  supported  by  the  extant 
quotations.  Lately  I  found  the  book  quoted  by  Meir  ha- 
Kohen  (13th  cent.)  in  nrJID^O  nin:n,  section  HN^n  niDK 
§7,  letter  X;  comp.  Azulai,  D^^n^n  n^,  ed.  Benjacob,  s.  v. 
Saadia,  who  mentions  a  book  on  nnntD. 

8.  niJnon  ISD,  i.  e.  a  book  on  laws  regulating  the  legal 
acquisition  of  objects  received  by  gift.  The  work  is  quoted 
by  N'ahmanides  in  his  Novellce  on  the  tractate  Kiddushin,  see 
Benjacob,  Thesaurus,  p.  389,  no.  2624;  Harkavy,  Ha-Goren, 
II,  89.  At  the  beginning  of  his  "  Book  on  Inheritance  " 
{Oeuvres,  IX,  9;  comp.  ih.,  p.  xv)  Saadia  states  that  "the 
transfer  of  objects  from  one  person  to  another  takes  place 
in  one  of  three  ways,  either  by  inheritance,  by  purchase, 
or  by  gift.  Each  of  these  three  has  its  own  laws  and 
provisions,  of  which  we  will  here  explain  first  those  con- 
cerning inheritance,  which  are  the  subject  of  the  present 
treatise.''  It  is  obvious  from  this  passage  that  he  intended 
to  treat  also  of  the  other  two.  We  have,  however,  no  quo- 
tation from  a  work  by  Saadia  on  Laws  of  Purchase.  That 
on  Gifts  was  in  existence  as  late  as  the  13th  century;  comp. 
Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  48,  no.  4 ;  Rappoport,  y^HDn,  XI,  83. 

9.  7\:i^r\'2  mJriD,  "  On  the  Priestly  Gifts."  A  work  under 
this  title  is  attributed  to  Saadia  in  a  fragment  in  Schechter's 
Saadyana,  no.  xxvii.  It  is  also  mentioned,  but  without 
the  name  of  Saadia,  in  the  list,  REJ.,  XXXIX,  200,  no.  30, 
and  Saadyaita,  no.  xlvii,  p.  128 ;  comp.  Poznanski,  Schechter's 
Saadyana,  p.  18,  no.  2. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  III—HALAKAH  349 

10.  rnJ  niD^n,  "  Laws  on  Menstruation,"  quoted  by 
Saadia  in  his  Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yezirah,  ed.  Lam- 
bert, p.  43,  1.  12  (mj  niVD  nDx  •>&  x:)nntj^  xod)  and  by 
several  mediaeval  authors;  see  Oeuvres,  IX,  157,  n.  5; 
MGWJ.,  XVII,  2y6.  Codex  Antonini,  155,  contains  the 
end  of  m:)  m^^n,  folbwed  by  HD^ntJ^  ni3^n  (above,  no.  5)  ; 
see  Harkavy,  DHpn,  I,  63  f.  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  p.  119,  n. 
I,  asserts  that  the  work  is  mentioned  in  the  lists  referred  to 
above  (no.  9),  no  doubt  through  confusing  it  with  some 
other  work.  His  assertion  that  it  was  written  in  Egypt  is 
likewise  groundless,  see  above,  note  293.  According 
to  Rapoport  and  Steinschneider,  it  was  not  a  separate  work, 
but  formed  part  of  no.  7  (see  above)  ;  comp.  Wertheimer, 
niDin  ^y  nnyo  nn  tj^na,  pp.  6  f.,  no.  5. 

D.  RESPONSA,  nuiti^n. 
Saadia's  Responsa  have  been  collected  from  various 
sources  and  reprinted  with  numerous  literary  notes  by  Joel 
Miiller,  in  Oeuvres,  IX,  87-142.  Altogether  there  are  fifty 
Responsa  in  this  collection,  but  the  differentiation  of  the 
editor  between  the  Responsa  and  other  pieces  which  are 
arranged  in  the  same  volume  under  the  heading  of  Quota- 
tions (see  below)  is  not  always  accurate.  Thus  no.  50  is  not 
a  Responsum,  but  Saadia's  reply  to  a  Karaite,  probably  Ibn 
Sakawaihi,  against  whom  he  wrote  a  polemic,  whence  the 
passage  in  question  may  have  been  taken  (comp.  Poznanski, 
JQR.,  X,  253;  below,  p.  383,  letter  /).  On  the  other  hand, 
no.  no  of  the  quotations  bears  the  heading  nnit^^D  and  be- 
longs to  the  Responsa.  Moreover,  not  all  the  Responsa  bear 
the  name  of  Saadia,  and  in  several  instances  the  authorship  is 
not  certain,  see  e.  g.  nos.  22,  23,  38,  46.  One  Responsum 
(2^)  is  in  Arabic,  in  another  (42)  the  question  is  in  Arabic, 
while  the  Gaon  deliberately  answers  in  Hebrew.  At  the  head 
of  ten  Responsa  (2,  4,  5,  9,  12,  13,  15-17,  21)  we  find  the 
remark  "  translated  from  the  Arabic  "  ;  the  translations  being 
anonymous.  The  original  language  of  the  rest  of  the 
Responsa  is  not  always  certain,  see  Miiller's  Introduction, 
pp.  xxxiv  ff.     Two  Responsa  (4,  16)  were  translated  into 


350  SAADIA  GAON 

German  in  a  condensed  form  by  Zacharias  Frankel,  in 
Entwurf  einer  Geschichte  der  Liieratur  der  nachtalmud- 
ischen  Responsen,  Breslau,  1865,  pp.  81-83 ;  comp.  Stein- 
schneider,  AL.,  p.  48  (the  passage  is  badly  printed:  line  12 
for  "  N.  8,  14,  2y"  read  N.  27,  42;  line  13  after  "  (Lese)  " 
read  darunter  8,  14  arahisch;  line  16  for  "  erstere  "  read 
letztere;  line  17  read  "  GA.  49,  50  (50  aus  Abr.  b.  Chijja 
iiber  Kalender)."  For  additional  Responsa  of  Saadia  see 
Harkavy,  Ha-Goren,  II,  89.  The  ^^t^DD  in  the  list,  RE  J., 
XXXIX,  p.  206,  no.  6,  may  also  belong  here  [but  see  Post- 
script, p.  427].  A  Kaminka  in  Winter  and  Wiinsche's  Die 
jUdische  Litteratur,  II,  39  f .,  published  a  German  translation 
of  Responsum  no.  16,  without  stating  that  it  had  previously 
been  translated  by  Frankel. 

E.    QUOTATIONS,   D^DIp^. 

It  was  no  small  task  to  collect,  from  the  vast  mediaeval 
literature,  all  the  passages  quoted  from  Saadia's  writings  by 
various  authors.  This  work  was  undertaken  by  Miiller,  who 
gathered  136  passages  {Oenvres,  IX,  145-173),  to  which  a 
considerable  number  were  added  by  Harkavy  in  the  same 
volume,  pp.  xxxvii-xliv.  Over  two-thirds  of  these  quo- 
tations are  taken  from  Saadia's  Siddur,  the  rest  from  works 
mostly  lost.  I  cannot  take  up  each  of  the  quotations  for 
separate  discussion,  but  a  few  points  may  be  briefly  touched 
upon.  Nos.  8,  14,  134  (the  last  is  from  the  Commentary  on 
Proverbs,  18,  17),  135,  are  Arabic.  For  no.  13  see  Harkavy, 
ih.,  p.  xliv;  Cowley,  Catalogue,  II,  no.  2745,  23;  for  no.  46 
comp.  Kitdb  al-Amdndt,  p.  183  {Em.,  Cracow,  p.  123),  over- 
looked by  Poznanski,  JQR.,  X,  252;  for  no.  106  see  this 
Bibliography,  II,  p.  335,  i;  for  no.  135  comp.  Poznanski, 
Moses  Ibn  Chiquitilla,  Leipzig,  1895,  P-  I97»  addition  to  p. 
62  \  Steinschneider,  AL.,  §  168;  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  p.  216, 
addition  to  p.  83. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  the  collection  of  Miiller  and 
Harkavy  contains  but  a  fraction  of  what  is  still  to  be 
gathered  from  MSS.  and  printed  works,  a  task  which,  as 
Dr.  Freimann  of  Holleschau,  Moravia,  has  told  me,  he 
began  some  years  ago  and  has  probably  brought  to  com- 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  IV— CALENDAR  AND  CHRONOLOGY    351 

pletion.  I  should  here  note  only  that  Schechter's  Saadyana 
contains  (aside  from  the  numerous  fragments  of  the  Gaon's 
own  works,  which  have  been  discussed)  numerous  Quota- 
tions by  others  from  unidentified  works  of  Saadia,  see  nos. 
xiv,  xxiv,  xxxi-xxxiv,  li.  Judah  b.  Barzillai,  Commentary 
on  Sefer  Yezirah,  p.  166,  quotes  a  passage  from  Saadia  on  a 
liturgical  question.  In  his  nnDtJ^n  nDD,  edited  by  Halber- 
stam,  Berlin,  1898,  he  quotes  Saadia  several  times ;  see  the 
editor's  Index.  Saadia's  interpretation  of  Exodus,  6,  3,  is 
quoted  by  Solomon  Ibn  Gabirol,  see  Berliner's  D^DID  DD^Q, 
Mayence  1872,  p.  28;  comp.  ih.,  German  part,  pp.  28,  30. 
Various  passages,  some  of  which  are  recorded  also  by  Miiller, 
are  quoted  in  the  non  "inriD,  ed.  Hurwitz,  Berlin,  1896--7 ;  see 
the  editor's  Introduction,  pp.  45-47,  and  Berliner's  additions 
at  the  end  of  the  volume  (nton  niTHD^  V^^'?^:)),  p.  815  (sep- 
arate edition,  p.  15)  ;  comp.  also  below,  under  Calendar,  no.  2. 
Gedaliah  Ibn  Yahya,  n^3pn  n"?^"?^,  ed.  Amsterdam,  p.  y2, 
top,  quotes  Saadia's  explanation  of  the  value  of  certain  coins 
mentioned  in  the  Talmud;  comp.  Oeuvres,  IX,  146,  no.  7; 
Zunz,  Zur  Geschichte,  542,  548-549;  Steinschneider,  MWJ., 
Ill,  47,  151  (Mosconi)  ;  Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  167,  n.  i.  For 
the  numerous  quotations  by  Moses  Tachau  see  above,  pp. 
281-285.  Saadia  is  quoted  also  by  an  Arabic  commentator  of 
the  Passover  Haggadah ;  see  W.  H.  Greenburg,  The  Hag- 
gadah  According  to  the  Rite  of  Yemen,  Leipzig,  1896,  p.  32. 
The  quoted  passage  is  found,  however,  in  XDin^D,  section 
niPD,  §  9.  For  quotations  by  Jacob  b.  Asher  see  above, 
note  369 ;  see  also  above,  p.  348,  end  of  no.  7. 

For  a  general  characterization  of  Saadia  as  a  Talmudist 
see  Weiss,  rtr"ini  ^n  in,  Wilna,  1904,  vol.  4,  pp.  137-143; 
Ginzberg,  Geonica,  I,  162-167.  Halevy's  D'':{J^«in  nnn, 
III,  275  f¥.  does  not  serve  our  purpose. 

IV.  CALENDAR  AND  CHRONOLOGY 

A.    CALENDAR 

Excepting  incidental  discussions  of  the  calendar  which 
occur  in  all  the  anti-Karaitic  writings  of  Saadia,  his  works 
in  this  field,  so  far  as  they  are  known,  were  all  occasioned 


352  SAADIA  GAON 

by  his  controversy  with  Ben  Meir.  Great  confusion  exists 
with  regard  to  the  identification  and  chronology  of  the 
various  documents  relating  to  this  controversy.  I  have 
therefore  treated  the  subject  separately  under  the  title 
"  Documents  on  the  Ben  Meir  Controversy  "  which  will  be 
found  below,  pp.  409  fif.,  as  an  appendix  to  chapter  IV  (see 
JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  Ill  (1912-1913),  p.  500).  As  most  of  the 
bibliographical  details  about  Saadia's  writings  on  the  calen- 
dar are  given  there,  I  shall  deal  here  only  with  the  few  ad- 
ditional works,  while  for  the  others  reference  is  made  to 
"  Documents." 

1.  t^DT  1DD,  see  Documents,  no.  9. 

2.  DnyC'  nyiix,  "  Four  Gates."  In  the  Genizah  lists 
published  by  Bacher,  RE  J.,  XXXIX,  200,  no.  28  (see  also 
no.  41,  where  a  work  under  the  same  title  appears  anony- 
mously) and  Schechter,  Saadyana,  no.  xlvii,  Saadia  is  ex- 
plicitly mentioned  as  the  author  of  a  work  under  this  title, 
as  also  in  a  work  on  the  calendar  by  a  later  author ;  comp. 
Bornstein,  nnyo  21  np^HD,  p.  25,  n.  2 ;  Poznanski,  REJ.,  XL, 
87  f .  For  further  details  regarding  the  "  Four  Gates  "  see 
above,  p.  73,  note  151. 

Here  should  be  added  the  DOO^D,  i.  e.,  mnemotechnical 
"  Signs  "  summarizing  the  rules  for  the  four  Postponements 
(nvni)  as  laid  down  in  the  "  Four  Gates."  They  were  pub- 
lished by  Berliner  in  his  Supplement  to  the  nton  "inno  (see 
above,  p.  351),  pp.  815-816. 

3.  Dnyi^n  IDD,  see  Documents,  no.  10.  As  to  the  real 
title  of  the  work  see  Malter,  JQR,,  N.  S.,  vol.  Ill  (1912- 
I9i3),pp.  490.^.9. 

4.  Three  Letters,  see  Documents,  nos.  4,  5,  11 ;  comp.  also 
no.  I. 

5.  nnyn  (110)110,  ''Order  (or.  Mysteries)  of  the  Cal- 
endar," counted  among  the  works  of  Saadia  by  the  Muham- 
medan  author  Muhammed  Ibn  Ishak  al-Nadim  (987)  in  his 
Fihrist  al-TJlum,  ed.  Fliigel-Rodiger,  I,  320,  who  calls  it 
Kitdh  al-Ibbur  and,  as  'Ibbur  is  a  Hebrew  word,  adds  the 
explanation  wahuwa  al-TaWih,  "  and  this  means  Ta'rih" 
i.  e.  calendar,  or  chronology.  This  explanation  has  led  some 
recent  authors  to  identify  the  work  with  the  Kitdb  al-TaWih 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  IV— CALENDAR  AND  CHRONOLOGY    353 

which  is  quoted  b}^  Judah  Ibn  Baram  (see  below  under 
Chronology).  Hebrew  authors  refer  to  a  IID  or  inyn  ITD 
of  Saadia ;  see  on  the  whole  subject,  Rapoport,  y'^n^n,  ix,  29, 
n.  23;  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2170  f.,  and  AL.,  p.  63,  no.  26] 
Poznanski,  J  OR.,  X,  260  f.  An  Arabic  Genizah  fragment  of 
three  leaves  dealing  with  the  calendar  (  Schechter,  Saadyana, 
no.  ix)  was  thought  to  be  part  of  the  work,  but  more  prob- 
ably it  belongs  to  the  Kitdb  al-Tamyiz ;  see  this  Bibliography, 
p.  380,  letter  a.  In  the  List  edited  by  Bacher,  REJ.,  XXXIX, 
200,  no.  20,  a  book  nny^X  is  mentioned,  which,  as  Bacher, 
ibidem,  p.  205,  no.  3,  thinks,  refers  to  this  work  {i.  e.  the 
linyn   no)  [comp.  also  below,  p.  427]. 

B.    CHRONOLOGY 

I.  Kitab  al-Ta'rih  (int^n^N  nxn^),  ''Book  of  Chronol- 
ogy," published  in  Neubauer's  MJC,  ii,  89-110.  In  the  In- 
troduction to  the  volume,  p.  xi,  Neubauer  calls  attention  to 
the  fact  that  a  passage  quoted  by  the  grammarian  and 
exegete  Judah  Ibn  Bal'am  (nth  century)  in  the  name  of 
Saadia  is  found  literally  in  the  work  before  us,  and  that  the 
Arabic  translation  of  geographical  names  in  the  Bible  agrees 
mostly  with  Saadia's  translation.  Bacher  in  a  thorough 
review  of  the  work  {REJ.,  XXXII,  140-144)  pointed  out 
many  more  Saadianic  elements  and  suggested  Saadia's 
authorship,  which  was  taken  into  consideration,  but  not 
positively  affirmed,  by  Steinschneider,  AL.,  §  146.  Subse- 
quently the  matter  was  again  taken  up  by  Bacher,  REJ., 
XLIX,  298  f .,  who  tried  to  show  that  the  Kitah  al-Ta'nh  had 
originally  formed  part  (the  second  chapter)  of  the  Arabic 
version  of  the  Sefer  ha-Galui,  but  was  later  detached  from 
the  original  work  and  circulated  as  a  separate  volume  under 
the  new  title.  In  this  form  alone,  Bacher  thinks,  it  was 
known  to  Judah  Ibn  Bal'am.  This  view,  however,  is  quite 
improbable,  for,  to  judge  from  the  existing  fragments  of 
both  the  Hebrew  and  Arabic  Sefer  ha-Galui  (see  this  Bib- 
liography below,  p.  391,  393,  letter  c) ,  the  latter  was  written  in 
a  rhetorical  style  little  in  harmony  with  a  dry  Biblical  chro- 
nology like  the  Kitab  al-Ta'rih.  Nor  is  it  probable  that  an 
extensive  work  like  this  would  have  formed  a  chapter  of  the 

23 


354  SAADIA  GAON 

Sefer  ha-Galui.  Moreover,  the  latter  was  essentially  a 
polemic  against  the  Exilarch  and  other  adversaries  of  the 
author;  and  although,  as  he  states  in  the  Introduction  (see 
JQR.,  N.  S.,vol.  Ill  (I9i2-I9i3),p.  491),  the  second  chapter 
of  the  work  contained  the  discussion  of  the  duration  of  proph- 
ecy in  Israel  and  of  the  redaction  of  the  Mishnah  and  the  Tal- 
mud, that  discussion,  judging  from  the  existing  fragment  (see 
below,  p.  391,  letter  a),  is  of  an  entirely  different  nature.  Be 
this  as  it  may,  Saadia's  authorship  of  the  latter  work  is  now 
established  beyond  dispute,  for  a  small  Genizah  fragment 
from  the  Kitdh  al-Ta'rih,  published  by  ]\Iarx,  REJ.,  1909,  p. 
299,  which  contains  the  beginning  of  the  composition,  men- 
tions Saadia  explicitly  as  the  author.  ^Moreover,  a  second 
fragment  of  a  work  on  the  calendar  (written  in  1028),  pub- 
lished by  Marx,  ibidem-,  p.  300,  likewise  quotes  the  Kitdb 
al-Tazvaih  (plural  of  Ta'rih)  as  a  work  of  Saadia;  comp. 
Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  344,  addition  to  §  146  (where  for  S. 
Frankel  read  W.  Bacher  and  for  "  xl,  182  "  read  xlix,  298) 
and  especially  his  Geschichtsliteratiir  der  Jiiden,  Frankfurt 
a.  M.,  1905,  p.  19,  and  §  29^;  see  also  Bacher,  MGWJ.,  191 1, 
pp.  253  f.  The  List  in  Schechter's  Saadyana,  no.  xxxvii, 
mentions  also  ain^^^^  1^T\'2,  though  without  the  name  of 
the  author. 

2.  D^t^niDXT  d^XJD  niD,  "  Chronological  Order  of  the  Tan- 
naim  and  Amoraim,"  the  discovery  of  which  was  announced 
by  Harkavy  in  his  D^:ti^''  D3  D^tJ^nn,  no  i,  pubhshed  in 
the  periodical  neVD,  i  (1886),  1-12  (see  REJ.,  XIV,  119  f). 
To  my  knowledge  it  has  never  appeared,  and  some  doubt  may 
be  entertained  as  to  its  identity;  see  Steinschneider,  AL., 
p.  50,  no.  10  (where  in  line  10,  119  should  be  read  for 
"  no,"  so  also  in  Steinschneider's  G eschichtsliteratur  der 
Juden,  p.  19,  1.  14). 

3.  m^\)r]  IJin  nn^in,  "Genealogy  of  Rabbi  Judah  the 
Holy,"  redactor  of  the  Mishnah.  In  a  fragment  pub- 
lished by  Schechter,  Saadyana,  no.  1,  p.  135,  Saadia  reports 
that  while  in  Mosul  he  was  asked  in  a  letter  (n2D  n^:iQn) 
to  set  forth  R.  Judah's  genealogy  and  to  explain  the  relation- 
ship between  Rab  and  Hiyya  (see  b.  Pesahim,  4a),  which  he 
did,  as  it  seems,  in  a  letter  ([n^:]nn  i»^  nti^n)  ;  comp. 
Bernstein,  3''D1  np^HD,  p.  y2. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  V— PHILOSOPHY  355 

4.  ••il^^n  ""Jn  n^:iD,  "The  Scroll  of  the  Hasmoneans." 
Much  has  been  written  about  the  time,  country,  and  original 
language  of  this  Scroll  (see  in  the  main  Harkavy,  Zikron, 
V,  205  f¥. ;  Gaster,  Transactions  of  the  Ninth  International 
Congress  of  Orientalists,  London,  1893,  II>  3"32 ;  Neubauer, 
JQR.,  VI,  570  fif. ;  Ginzberg,  JE.,  I,  637 ;  Levi,  REJ.,  XLV, 
171  ff.) .  It  may  now  be  considered  certain  that  it  is  the  work 
of  an  author  living  either  in  Babylonia  (Ginzberg)  or  in 
Syria  (Levi)  during  the  seventh  or  eighth  century,  and  that 
its  original  language  was  Aramaic.  Very  early  it  was  trans- 
lated into  Arabic,  Hebrew,  and,  later,  Persian ;  while  the 
Hebrew  version  served  as  original  for  translations  into 
Latin,  German,  and  Spanish.  Gaster  (/.  c.)  again  translated 
the  Aramaic  into  English.  We  are  here  concerned  only  with 
the  Arabic  version.  It  exists  in  numerous,  mostly  Yemenite, 
MSS.  None  of  them  bears  the  name  of  Saadia  as  the  author. 
Hirschfeld  who  published  this  version,  therefore,  gives  it  as 
an  anonymous  piece  {Arabic  Chrestomathy,  London,  1892, 
pp.  1-6).  Later  A.  S.  Wertheimer  published  the  same  version 
with  many  different,  often  mistaken,  readings  from  a  Yemen 
MS.  (DitJ^mn  tDP^,  Jerusalem,  1903),  which,  he  asserts,  is 
700  years  old.  He  was  the  first  to  suggest  (p.  10)  Saadia  as 
the  author  [and  his  view  is  now  borne  out  by  a  Genizah  frag- 
ment recently  published  by  J.  Mann,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  XI, 
425,  which  represents  a  catalogue  of  Saadia's  writings  com- 
piled shortly  after  his  death,  and  in  which  the  ''J2  D^JO 
"•JIDtJ^n  is  mentioned  as  one  of  the  Gaon's  works.  From  the 
words  .  .  .  n^  invi  following  upon  the  title  of  the  Scroll  it 
appears  that  he  wrote  also  an  introduction  to  his  translation, 
of  which,  however,  nothing  has  so  far  been  recovered].  As 
already  noted  (above,  p.  173),  Saadia  referred  to  the  Scroll 
several  times  in  his  Scfer  ha-Galui  (Harkavy,  Zikron,  V, 
150,  162,  180)  ;  comp.  also  Maker,  JQR.,  N,  S.,  III.  489, 
n.  6;  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  277;  MGWJ.,  XLVII,  365  ff. 

V.  PHILOSOPHY 
I.  Tafsir  Kitdb  al-Mahddi  (nt^lD^X  D^JlD  I'-DDn),  *' Com- 
mentary on  the  Book  of  Creation,"  of  which  only  one  com- 
plete MS.  is  preserved  in  the  Bodleian  Library.     Short  ex- 
tracts therefrom  were  published  by  Steinschneider,  C5.,  2220 : 


356  SAADIA  GAOX 

by  Neubauer,  with  a  French  translation,  Journal  Asiatique, 
1861,  ii,  p.  247 ;  1862,  ii,  pp.  261-267  (separate  edition :  Notice 
siir  la  lexicographie  hebrdiqiie,  Paris,  1863,  pp.  7,  215-219). 
reprinted  and  translated  into  Hebrew  by  Harkavy,  Zikron, 
V,  61-65  (comp.  above,  p.  307,  no.  2)  ;  by  Derenbourg,  like- 
wise with  French  translation,  Journal  Asiatique,  1870,  pp. 
496,  515  f.  (separate  edition:  Manuel  du  lecteur,  Paris 
1870,  pp.  188,  207)  ;  comp.  Kaufmann's  Notes  on  """DD  of 
Judah  b.  Barzillai,  p.  347,  ad  paginam  22^.  A  complete 
edition  of  the  Arabic  text  with  a  French  translation,  intro- 
duction, and  notes  was  prepared  by  M.  Lambert,  Comtnen- 
taire  sur  le  Sefer  Yesira  par  le  Gaon  Saadya,  Paris,  1891 
(comp.  Steinschneider,  Deutsche  Literatiirzeitung,  1892,  p. 
148 ;  A.  Epstein,  MOW  J.,  1893,  pp.  1 19  f ) ,  Arabic  characters 
being  substituted  by  the  editor  for  the  Hebrew  characters 
of  the  MS.  The  text  together  with  the  Hebrew  paragraphs 
of  the  Sefer  Ye^irah  itself,  covers  105  pages.  Since  the 
appearance  of  this  edition  several  fragments  of  the  Arabic 
text,  covering  about  26  pages  of  the  printed  book  (viz. 
i-iT,  10-12,  26-38,  100-102),  were  found  in  the  Genizah; 
see  Neubauer  and  Cowley,  Catalogue,  H,  nos.  2669,  23 ;  2787, 
21 ;  2850,  7 ;  2860,  6.  There  may  be  more  fragments  which  I 
have  not  seen.  The  portions  published  by  Steinschneider, 
Neubauer,  Harkavy,  and  Derenbourg  are  found  in  Lam- 
bert's edition,  pp.  13  (11.  4-7);  24  (11.  T-5)  ;  42  (1.  7)-43 
(1.  12)  ;  76  (1.  2)-78  (bottom)  ;  79,  11.  5-13. 

The  w^ork  was  translated  into  Hebrew  by  one  Moses  b.. 
Joseph  of  Lucena,  whose  date  is  not  certain,  presumably  the 
tv/elfth  century.  This  translation  is  extant  only  in  MSS. 
A  short  extract  was  given  by  Dukes,  D''nnp  ^n:,  p.  3  (ed. 
Lambert,  p.  21,  1.  14  to  22,  1.  15  ;  comp.  M.  Sachs  in  Rosen- 
berg's Y'l^?,  H,  85,  n.  2)  ;  comp.  also  ih.,  pp.  23-25.  Several 
pages  were  reproduced  by  Kaufmann  in  his  Notes  to  Halber- 
stam's  edition  of  Judah  b.  Barzillai's  nn-'V^  nCD  tJ^ns  (Berlin, 
1885),  p.  338  (Lambert,  p.  19,  bottom — 20,  17)  ;  339,  ad 
paginam  155  (Lambert,  p.  15,  1.  15—16,  5)  ;  340-342  (Lam- 
bert, 69,  7 — 74,  3).  Several  shorter  passages  were  reproduced 
by  Jellinek,  Beitrdge,  I,  y^^  .note ;  Epstein,  RE  J.,  xxi,  p.  93, 
n.  4,  and  Kaufmann,  Sinne,  p.>.  134,  «•  20;  p,  153,  n.  16.    For  a 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  V— PHILOSOPHY 


357 


detailed   characterization   of   this   Hebrew   translation,   see 
Steinschneider,  Die  hebrdischen   Ueberseizungen,  pp.  443- 

445- 

Prior  to  this  translation  there  must  have  existed  two,  per- 
haps even  three,  other  Hebrew  translations,  partial  or  com- 
plete. The  aforementioned  Judah  b.  Barziliai  (1135)  repro- 
duces, at  the  end  of  his  Commentary,  pp.  268-278,  a  consider- 
able portion  of  an  earlier  Hebrew  translation  by  an  unknown 
author,  which  contains  the  whole  Introduction  and  most  of 
the  first  paragraph  of  the  first  chapter  of  Saadia's  work 
(Lambert,  pp.  1-23,  1.  7).  To  this  translation  he  refers  also 
on  p.  184,  complaining  of  its  poor,  unintelligible  Hebrew 
style.  He  had,  however,  as  appears  from  p.  255  (1,  19),  two 
other  versions — ^imless  we  assume  that  one  of  them  is  identical 
with  that  which  he  had  designated  as  poor.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
that  translation  which  Judah  considers  the  most  correct,  is 
cited  extensively  in  various  parts  of  his  Commentary,  the 
quotations  covering  nearly  thirty  pages  ol  the  book.  Thus 
the  Hebrew  translation  of  about  half  of  Saadia's  Com- 
mentary is  to  be  found  in  the  Commentary  of  Judah.  A  care- 
ful comparison  of  the  two  texts,  the  Arabic  and  the  Hebrew, 
would  bring  out  many  an  interesting  point,  especially  for  the 
study  of  the  mediaeval  Hebrew.  To  facilitate  such  a  com- 
parison I  subjoin  in  parallel  columns  a  table  of  the  cor- 
responding texts  in  the  two  Commentaries : 


Saadia 
Page  5,  line  4— page  6,Hne3 
''  31,  ''  16—  "  32,  ''  9 
''  38,  ''  14-  "  41,  "  7 
-  42,  -  7-  "  46.  "  9 
''     46,    ''     13-  "      47,    ''  17 


Judah  b.  Barsillai 
page  174,  line    4-20 
"     209,    "      5-13 
"     162,    **      9-163,  17 
"     229,    "    30-231,23 
"     237,    "      4-16 -1-34 + 


36-40-1- page  238,  I   (the  rest  being  inserted  by  Judah) 


48,  " 

3—  " 

50, 

"    9 

"     254, 

26-255, 19 

51,  " 

2 —  " 

54, 

''15 

"     213, 

16-215,    3 

55,  " 

I —  " 

58, 

''    5 

"     260, 

12-261,  22 

59,   " 

3~  " 

60, 

"    7 

"     221, 

24-222, 13 

61,   " 

4—  '' 

63, 

"14 

"     244, 

14-245,  15 

^,   '' 

8—  " 

74, 

'^    3 

"     177, 

11-179,  12 

358  SAADIA  GAON 

Kaufmann  in  hisNotes  on  the  Commentary  (pp.  238,  347  f., 
ad  paginam  229,  7-8  from  below)  assumes  that  Judah  is  him- 
self the  translator  of  some  of  these  passages.  He  overlooked 
Judah's  clear  statement  (p.  2'^y)  that  he  did  not  possess 
the  Arabic  original.  It  is  also  doubtful  whether  any  of  his 
Hebrew  translations  was  complete,  see  p.  245,  1.  16.  How- 
ever, aside  from  the  passages  he  quoted,  he  made  extensive 
use  of  other  portions  of  Saadia's  Commentary,  even  where 
he  does  not  mention  it ;  comp.  e.  g.  his  interpretation  of  the 
Divine  Names  (pp.  126  f.)  with  that  of  Saadia,  pp.  19  f.  ; 
further,  the  lengthy  exposition,  p.  240,  with  the  Com- 
mentary of  Saadia,  pp.  59-62 ;  see  also  Judah,  p.  209, 
bottom,  and  Saadia,  p.  80,  with  reference  to  the  n^lV^  X'^^l ; 
Kaufmann,  pp.  339,  345,  ad  paginam  209. 

Aside  from  the  translation  of  Moses  of  Lucena  and  those 
used  by  Judah  b.  Barzillai,  there  was  another  Hebrew 
translation  from  which  Moses  Tachau,  or  Tackau  (1230,  see 
for  details  above,  pp.  281  fif.),  quotes  a  lengthy  passage  in  his 
D^DD  nriD,  published  by  Kirchheim  in  IDn:  nviK,  HI  (i860), 
66.  The  corresponding  Arabic  text  in  ed.  Lambert  is  p.  70, 
5-71,  last  line  but  one.  The  same  passage  in  an  entirely 
different  version  is  found  in  Judah's  commentary,  pp.  177  f. 
Another  short  passage  from  the  same  translation  of  Saadia's 
Commentary  (ed.  Lambert,  p.  47,  11  fT.)  is  quoted  by  Tachau, 
ibidem,  p.  67,  10,  which  is  found  also  in  Judah's  Commen- 
tary, p.  237,  4  from  below ;  comp.  Steinschneider,  Die 
hehraischen  Uebersetziingen,  p.  444,  n.  523. 

Finally,  there  is  still  another  translation  to  be  men- 
tioned, the  existence  of  which  has  hitherto  escaped  notice. 
Berechiah  ha-Nakdan  (^ilVD,  ed.  GoUancz,  London,  1902) 
reproduces  pp.  118,  5  (from  below) — 119,  23,  the  Hebrew 
translation  of  a  passage  from  Saadia's  Commentary  (Lam- 
bert, p.  18,  17-20,  4) ,  which  does  not  agree  either  with  that  of 
Moses  of  Lucena  (according  to  the  copy  made  for  Halber- 
stam,  which  I  have  compared  in  the  library  of  the  Jewish 
Theological  Seminary  of  America  in  New  York),  or  with 
that  reproduced  by  Judah  b.  Barzillai,  pp.  275  f.  As 
Berechiah  is  not  supposed  to  have  known  Arabic,  it  would 
follow  that  he   drew  upon  some  translation  which  is  no 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  V— PHILOSOPHY  359 

longer  extant  (see  above,  note  632).  For  further  details 
on  Berechiah  and  his  connection  with  the  works  of  Saadia 
see  above,  p.  288,  and  below,  pp.  361  f .  Another  author  of  the 
1 2th  century,  the  mystic  Eleazar  of  Worms,  who  also  wrote 
a  Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yezirah  (published  in  Przemysl, 
1883),  drew  upon  the  Commentary  of  Saadia  only  indirectly, 
making  use  of  the  Hebrew  extracts  of  Judah  b.  Barzillai; 
comp.  Epstein,  MGWJ.,  1893,  pp.  117  f.;  Halberstam, 
MOW  J.,  1893,  p.  247,  and  the  references  there  given. 

The  foregoing  account  shows  sufficiently  that  Saadia's 
Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yezirah  was  very  widely  used  by 
earlier  mediaeval  authors.  In  later  centuries,  as  well  as  in 
recent  times,  however,  little  attention  has  been  given  to  it. 

2.  Kitdh  al-Amdndt  wa-l-Ftikaddt  (n«J«0«^X  n^?nD 
n«"l«pnyx^«"i),  ''Book  of  Philosophic  Doctrines  and  Re- 
ligious Behefs." 

A.    ARABIC  TEXT 

The  Arabic  work  under  the  title  here  given  has  been  pre- 
served in  two  MSS.  only,  one  of  which  is  in  the  Bodleian 
Library  at  Oxford  and  the  other  in  the  Imperial  Library  of 
St.  Petersburg.  The  latter  is  not  quite  complete;  several 
pages  are  missing  here  and  there,  while  many  others  have 
been  damaged  by  fire.  Aside  from  these  two  MSS.  there  is 
a  Genizah  fragment  in  the  Bodleian  Library  (see  Neubauer 
and  Cowley,  Catalogue,  II,  no.  2753),  of  which  I  possess  a 
copy.  The  fragment  covers  nearly  the  whole  sixth  chapter 
of  the  work,  lacking  only  14  lines  at  the  begining  and  4  lines 
at  the  end  (p.  189, 1.  4-2 11, 1.  i,  of  the  printed  edition,  which 
will  be  discussed  below)  and  part  of  the  seventh  in  the 
edition  of  Bacher  in  Steinschneider's  Festschrift  (see  be- 
low), p.  105,  11.  24-108,  1.  10.  Another  Genizah  fragment 
in  the  collection  of  the  Cambridge  University  Library  (pp. 
116,  15-119,  8  of  the  printed  edition)  was  pubhshed  with  an 
English  translation  by  Hirschfeld  {JQR.,  XVII,  721-725). 
who  mistook  it  for  part  of  another  work,  but  subsequently 
corrected  his  mistake  (see  JQR.,  XVIII,  146) .  All  the  MSS. 
extant  are  written  in  Hebrew  characters. 

As  early  as  171 7  John  Gagnier  edited  a  specimen  of  the 
Bodleian  MS.,  then  the  only  one  known,  side  by  side  with  the 


36o  SAADIA  GAON 

corresponding  section  of  the  Hebrew  translation  of  Judah 
Ibn  Tibbon  (see  below)  and  his  own  Latin  translation.  This 
specimen  is  so  rare  that  according  to  Steinschneider,  CB., 
2iy2,  not  even  the  Bodleian  Library  possesses  a  copy.  From 
the  same  MS.  the  beginning  of  chapter  VIII  (pp.  229-233,  4 
from  below  of  the  printed  edition)  was  published  with  a 
French  translation  by  Salomon  Munk,  Notice  sur  R.  Saadia 
Gaon,  Paris,  1858,  pp.  20-29. 

The  entire  work,  transliterated  into  Arabic  characters,  was 
critically  edited  on  the  basis  of  the  Bodleian  MS.  by 
S.  Landauer  (Leyden,  1880).  The  editor  also  made  careful 
use  of  the  St.  Petersburg  MS.,  giving  in  footnotes  all  its  im- 
portant variants  and  sometimes,  though  not  in  an  adequate 
measure,  incorporating  them  into  the  text  instead  of  the 
readings  offered  by  the  Bodleian  MS.  A  minute  review  of 
this  edition  was  published  bv  Goldziher  in  ZDMG.,  XXXV 

(1881),  773-783- 

Pages  125,  4  from  below — 128,  2  of  Landauer's  edition 
were  reprinted  (in  Hebrew  characters)  by  Hirschfeld  in 
his  Arabic  Chrestomathy,  London,  1892,  pp.  35  f. 

As  was  stated  above,  p.  194,  Saadia  wrote  the  seventh 
chapter  of  his  work,  dealing  with  the  question  of  resurrec- 
tion, in  two  entirely  different  recensions.  One  of  these  re- 
censions, probably  the  older  one,  is  found  only  in  the  Bodleian 
MS.  while  the  other  is  represented  in  the  St.  Petersburg 
MS.  Landauer's  edition  contains  only  the  first,  usually  desig- 
nated as  the  Oxford  Recension;  the  recension  of  the  St. 
Petersburg  MS.  was  edited  in  1886  by  Bacher,  in  the  Stein- 
schneider Festschrift,  Hebrew  part,  pp.  98-112.  Two  pas- 
sages of  considerable  length,  at  the  beginning  and  toward  the 
end  of  the  chapter,  which  are  missing  in  the  MS.,  were  repro- 
duced by  Bacher  on  the  basis  of  Ibn  Tibbon's  Hebrew  trans- 
lation. Saadia's  authorship  of  this  so-called  St.  Petersburg 
Recension,  which  was  denied  by  Landauer  in  his  Introduction 
to  the  Kitdb  al-Amandt,  pp.  x-xi,  is  proved  beyond  doubt  by 
Bacher,  ibidem,  German  part,  pp.  219-226.  Recently  another 
fragment  of  this  different  recension  of  the  seventh  chapter 
has  been  found  among  the  MSS.  of  the  Genizah,  for  which 
see  Nenbauer  and  Cowler,  Catalogue,  II,  no.  2642,  iia. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  V— PHILOSOPHY  361 

B.    TRANSLATIONS 

a)  Hebrew 

I,    THE   ANONYMOUS    PARAPHRASE 

The  first  attempt  at  rendering  the  Kitdb  al-Amdndt  into 
Hebrew  was  made  by  an  anonymous  author  as  to  whose 
identity,  time,  and  country  much  has  been  written.  I  am 
here  not  concerned  with  the  details  of  this  investigation,  and 
shall  merely  state  the  facts.  The  work,  entitled  120  inn 2 
nU'l»^?^,  exists  in  several  MSS.  in  various  European  libraries. 
One  of  the  MSS.  (Vatican,  no.  269)  has  at  the  end  the  date 
1095,  which  is  probably  that  of  the  translator,  not  of  the 
copyist  (see  above,  p.  289).  The  contention  of  Dukes, 
Beitrdge,  II,  16,  that  the  date  is  to  be  corrected  to  1195,  is 
entirely  unwarranted.  The  translation,  or,  as  it  is  usually 
and  correctly  designated,  the  "  Paraphrase,"  is  certainly  older 
than  the  translation  of  Judah  Ibn  Tibbon  (1186),  and  its 
author,  I  believe,  was  one  of  the  Palestinian  (Porges,  ZfhB., 
VII,  38:  Babylonian)  Payyetanim  who  flourished  in  the 
nth  century.  The  work  is  written  in  the  most  peculiar  style, 
having  no  parallel  in  the  entire  Hebrew  philosophic  literature 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  author  is  indefatigable  in  coining 
new  and  strange  words  and  phrases  to  express  philosophic 
ideas  in  the  liturgical  language  of  Eleazar  Kalir !  For  text- 
ual criticism  this  work  is  of  Httle  use,  as  it  never  keeps  to  the 
original,  but  merely  paraphrases  its  content.  From  a  general 
linguistic  point  of  view,  however,  it  is  of  great  interest.  For 
a  detailed  characterization  of  this  Paraphrase  see  Stein- 
schneider,  HB.,  XIII,  82;  Die  hebrdischen  Uebersetzungen, 
pp.  440-443.  For  extracts  from  the  MSS.  that  have  occa- 
sionally been  published  by  various  scholars  see  the  references 
ibidem,  p.  440,  n.  498,  to  which  should  be  added  several 
passages  in  Guttmann's  Die  Religionsphilosophie  des  Saadia, 
pp.  264,  266,  268,  270,  273,  276-279,  281,  283. 

About  three-quarters  of  a  century  after  the  appearance  of 
the  Paraphrase,  Berechiah  ha-Nakdan,  the  well-known 
author  of  Hebrew  fables,  set  himself  to  the  task  of  epitomis- 
ing it,  making  additions  to  it  from  the  works  of  other 
authors  (Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,  Abraham  Ibn  Daud,  Solomon 


362  SAADIA  GAON 

Ibn  Gabirol,  Bahya  Ibn  Bakuda,  Abraham  b.  Hiyya).  His 
work  has  no  special  title.  The  same  author  compiled  another 
work  in  fifteen  chapters  under  the  title  ^"l^DPI  1SD.  Of 
this  work  chapter  I  is  taken  partly  from  the  Paraphrase 
and  partly  from  a  translation  of  Saadia's  Commentary  on 
the  Sefer  Yezirah  (see  above,  p.  358),  while  the  last  six 
chapters  (X-XV),  with  the  exception  of  a  few  insertions 
from  other  sources  (as  in  chapter  XI),  are  again  taken 
entirely  from  the  Paraphrase.  Both  compilations  were  pub- 
lished with  an  English  introduction  and  translation  by  H. 
Gollancz  under  the  title  The  Ethical  Treatises  of  Berachya, 
London,  1902.  This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  merits  or 
demerits  of  Gollancz's  edition.  I  must  say,  however,  that 
it  in  no  way  deserves  the  praise  bestowed  upon  it  by  N. 
Porges,  in  ZfhB.,  VH,  36-44.  ]\Iuch  more  reasonable  is  the 
review  of  Guttmann,  MGWJ.,  XLVI,  536-547;  comp.  also 
Israel  Levi,  RET,  XLVI,  285-288,  and  Steinschneider,  JQR., 
XVII,  581,  top. 

Much  uncertainty  prevails  regarding  the  original  text  used 
by  the  anonymous  paraphrast.  It  was  noted  above  that  the 
recension  of  the  seventh  chapter  in  the  Oxford  MS.  differs 
entirely  from  that  in  the  St.  Petersburg  MS.  The  Para- 
phrase follows  partly  the  one  and  partly  the  other  recension 
(see  Landauer,  Introduction  to  the  Kitdh  al-Amdmt,  p.  xi) 
and  the  epitomizer  Berechiah  naturally  adheres  to  the  same 
order.  The  question  is  now  whether  the  anonymous  para- 
phrast had  both  recensions  before  him  and  tried  to  combine 
them  into  one,  or  whether  he  had  an  Arabic  text  in  which 
the  two  recensions  had  already  beeen  fused  by  some  un- 
known editor.  The  question  may  here  be  left  undecided.  It 
is  of  more  importance  to  note  that  the  anonymous  Para- 
phrase was  the  source  not  only  of  Berechiah,  but  of  several 
other  authors,  who  embodied  parts  thereof  in  their  own 
works,  or  published  them  as  separate  books.  These  may  be 
arranged  as  follows,  according  to  the  order  of  the  chapters 
of  the  Kitdh  al-Amdndt  in  which  the  excerpted  materials 
occur : 

I.  nnyo  IJm  "^^  nnit:^nn  IDD.    Under  this  heading  a  por- 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  V— PHILOSOPHY  z^Z 

tion  of  Chapter  V  is  reproduced  by  Judah  he-Hasid  (died 
1217)  in  his  Dn^Dn  ^QD,  Bologna,  1538,  §  612-613;  BerHn, 
1 89 1,  §  36  (the  texts  in  the  two  editions  show  many  varia- 
tions). The  fifth  chapter  of  Saadia's  work  must  have  circu- 
lated as  a  separate  treatise  under  the  above  title  before  the 
time  of  Judah,  who  made  extracts  from  it.  A  comparison  of 
the  text  of  the  Dn"'Dn  1DD  with  the  corresponding  passages 
in  Berechiah's  work  (pp.  33,  38)  shows  convincingly  that  the 
translation  is  that  of  the  Paraphrase  and,  so  far  as  this 
extract  is  concerned,  there  is  no  ground  for  the  assumption 
of  H.  Michael,  D^^nn  11i^,  p.  300  (see  Steinschneider,  AL., 
p.  66,  n.  18)  that  there  existed  a  third  translation  of  Saadia's 
work.  Judah  does  not  reproduce  the  text  in  its  original 
order.  Thus  the  greater  part  of  one  paragraph  (ed.  Berlin, 
p.  38,  top,  to  V^^  ^''  D51,  third  line  from  below)  corresponds 
to  Kitdh  al-Amdndt,  pp.  180,  2-181,  5  from  below  (in  Ibn 
Tibbon's  translation,  ed.  Slucki,  pp.  90,  21-91,  15;  Bere- 
chiah,  pp.  38  f.),  while  the  end  of  the  same  paragraph 
corresponds  to  pp.  171,  14-172,  2  (Ibn  Tibbon,  pp.  86,  2  from 
below — 87,  6;  Berechiah,  p.  33).  Possibly  Judah  is  not 
responsible  for  these  changes,  but  gave  the  text  as  he  found 
it  in  the  separate  nmt^nn  nSD,  which  may  have  been  a  free 
recast  of  the  fifth  chapter,  based  on  the  Paraphrase.  Eleazar 
of  Worms  used  the  same  source,  perhaps  also  Juda  Halaz ; 
see  note  491.  The  title  nnitJTin  nSDD  DnDXD,  quoted  by 
Steinschneider  {CB.,  2178)  and  others,  is  based  on  a  mis- 
understanding of  Rapoport's  words  in  DTiJ/n  ''1")D1,  IX,  30, 
bottom. 

2.  nnsni  n^nnn  "IQD,  a  condensed  edition  of  chapter  VII 
of  Saadia's  work  as  contained  in  the  Paraphrase,  btit  with 
considerable  changes,  transpositions,  and  amplifications  by 
an  anonymous  author,  published  for  the  first  time  at  Mantua, 
1556,  then  with  an  addition  from  a  work  of  Moses  de  Trani 
(see  below),  Wilna,  1799  (in  Literaturblatt  des  Orients, 
1847,  P-  ^^77^  mistakenly  identified  with  the  work  given  below 
as  no.  4),  reprinted  Sudzilkow,  1834;  Warsaw,  1841.  The 
exact  title  is  nTinn  "ISD,  but  nnsni  was  added,  because  the 
publication  was  intended  to  cover  also  no.  4  (below,  p.  367) 


364  SAADIA  GAON 

which,  however,  was  pubUshed  separately  two  months  later ; 
see  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2179. 

3.  ]"in;  nnyo  unn^  n)'?i^^  nrnt^ri,  an  anonymous  com- 
pilation in  the  style  of  the  Paraphrase,  containing  the  Ten 
Questions  regarding  resurrection  which  form  the  last  portion 
of  chapter  VII  of  the  Kitdb  al-Amdndt,  printed  first  at  the 
end  of  ^J^IDK^  K^mD,  Constantinople,  1522  (see  Ruber's  In- 
troduction to  his  edition  of  this  work,  Cracow,  1893,  p.  36) . 
The  same  recension  of  the  Ten  Questions,  taken  from  a 
Parma  MS.,  showing  numerous,  though  not  essential  vari- 
ants, was  edited  under  the  title  m^5^^  r^^^V  by  Chaim  M. 
Horowitz,  m^^nn  nn:  rr-n,  I,  Frankfurt  a.  M.,  1881,  pp. 
59-62.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  seventh  chapter 
of  the  Paraphrase,  and  hence  also  of  the  compendium  of 
Berechiah,  is  a  combination  of  both  Arabic  recensions  (see 
above,  p.  362).  Now  we  find  that  the  number  and  order 
of  the  Questions  in  the  Paraphrase  is  exactly  the  same  as  in 
the  St.  Petersburg  MS.,  which  agrees  throughout  with  the 
recension  presented  in  the  translation  of  Ibn  Tibbon,  while 
the  content  and  wording  of  the  individual  Questions  and 
answers  agree  fully  with  the  recension  of  the  St.  Petersburg 
MS.  The  same  is  true  of  the  separate  editions  of  the  Ten 
Questions,  except  that  the  text  is  here  very  much  abridged, 
rendering  the  comparison  somewhat  difficult.  The  only 
compilation  in  which  the  order  as  well  as  the  number  of  the 
Questions  is  entirely  different  from  that  of  both  Arabic  recen- 
sions is  the  rrrinn  IDD  (above,  no.  2),  whose  author,  though 
drawing  upon  the  Paraphrase,  perhaps  through  intermediary 
sources,  has  disposed  of  the  material  in  an  altogether 
arbitrary  manner.  The  style  and  diction  of  all  these  com- 
pilations, however,  is  entirely  similar  and  their  common 
source  is  the  Paraphrase;  comp.  e.  g.  n^nnn  *1DD,  Question  7, 
and  m^Kt^  ni^V,  ed.  Horowitz,  Question  3 ;  see  also  Gutt- 
mann,  Die  Religionsphilosophie  des  Saadia,  p.  22y,  n.  5  (for 
"siebente"  read  there  (fourth  line  from  below)  sechste. 
Bacher's  assertion  (Steinschneider's  Festschrift,  p.  223,  n.  i) 
that  the  Ten  Questions,  ed.  Horowitz,  agree  with  the  recen- 
sion of  the  St.  Petersburg  MS.,  is  therefore  correct  only  in  so 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  V— PHILOSOPHY  365 

far  as  the  order  is  concerned ;  in  style  and  content  the  com- 
piler follows  the  Paraphrase  or  some  of  its  later  epitomizers, 
but  not  the  translation  of  Ibn  Tibbon.  It  should  be  noted  that 
in  ed.  Horowitz  and  in  ^i<1DtJ^  tJ^mD  the  text  begins  with  the 
words  n^^^n  ^JI^NiJ^  nnyo  n^^,  as  if  the  Questions  were 
addressed  to  him  by  his  pupils,  which  is  of  course  an  inven- 
tion of  the  compiler. 

The  Paraphrase  was  also  the  source  of  the  French 
Tosafist  Samson  b.  Abraham  of  Sens  (12th  century),  who 
quotes  two  of  the  Questions  (6,  7)  in  one  of  his  epistles  to 
Meir  b.  Todros  ha-Levi  Abulafia  (^^XDl^N*  nxn3,  edited  by 
Jehiel  Brill;  Paris,  1871,  pp.  136  f.).  Apart  from  a  few  in- 
significant variants  the  text  agrees  literally  with  that  of 
Berechiah,  p.  60.  The  editor,  Brill,  evidently  did  not  know  of 
the  existence  of  the  Paraphrase,  and  is  therefore  surprised  at 
the  differences  between  his  text  and  that  of  Ibn  Tibbon. 
Samson  calls  the  Questions  nnx/D  IJni  Dini^n,  and  says  that 
he  asked  one  of  the  scholars  (Dnnn)  to  copy  (PTiypi^,  see 
Zunz,  Gesammelte  Schriften,  III,  65  f.)  them  for  him.  The 
text  of  Question  6  (Landauer,  pp.  223,  5-19,  and  224,  11-18) 
is  corrupt  both  here  and  in  the  work  of  Berechiah.  GoUancz 
in  his  edition  of  the  latter,  p.  119,  translates  blindly  without 
noticing  the  difficulty ;  comp.  the  corresponding  passage  in 
n^nnn  IDD,  Question  5,  which  offers  here  a  more  correct 
text.  For  I^DX"'  (Brill,  p.  137,  4)  read  l^nr,  as  in  Berechiah, 
p.  60;  comp.  also  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2224,  bottom. 

An  altogether  different  recension  of  the  Ten  Questions  is 
that  published  from  a  Leipzig  MS.  by  Jellinek  in  his  Bet  ha- 
Midrasch,  VI,  148  f.,  under  the  title  ^TV^X  nn  r\)^i<^.  The 
text  here  is  much  shorter  than  in  any  of  the  compilations 
previously  mentioned.  Its  anonymous  author  does  not  fol- 
low, so  far  as  the  wording  of  the  text  is  concerned,  any  nf 
the  Hebrew  versions  known,  but  merely  gives  the  gist  of  the 
Questions  and  the  answers  in  his  own  language.  The  order 
of  the  Questions  is  the  same  as  in  all  other  sources,  except 
the  n^nnn  IQD.  The  "  R.  Eliezer,"  to  whom  the  work  is 
here  falsely  attributed,  represents,  according  to  Delitzsch 
and  Jellinek  (see  the  latter's  introductory  remarks,  p.  xxxv, 


366  SAADIA  GAON 

and  Steinschneider,  AL.,  pp.  53  f.)  either  Eliezer  b.  Hyr- 
canos  or  b.  Jacob,  both  teachers  of  the  Mishnah  of  the  first 
century.  For  the  various  MSS.  in  which  the  different  recen- 
sions of  the  Ten  Questions  are  found  (sometimes  anony- 
mously and  sometimes  attributed  to  one  of  various  mediaeval 
authors)  see  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2178,  no.  6,  and  AL.,  p.  53. 
To  dispose  of  all  the  material  in  connection  with  this  sub- 
ject I  add  here  an  account  of  some  other  complete  or  partial 
editions  of  the  Ten  Questions,  though  the  texts  of  these 
editions  are  in  no  wise  based  upon  that  of  the  Paraphrase. 
Thus,  in  a  lengthy  Responsum  of  the  Gaon  Hai  (in  the  He- 
brew periodical,  pnv?'»  ""n^lD,  V,  75,  published  more  completely 
in  the  collection  D"'JPT  UVO  by  Eliezer  Ashkenazi,  Frankfurt 
a/M.,  1854,  pp.  59a-6ia,  who,  however,  omitted  the  entire 
passage  with  which  we  are  here  concerned),  the  contents  of 
which  is  based  entirely  on  chs.  VII  and  VIII  of  the  'Amanat, 
the  author  gives,  in  the  name  of  Saadia,  the  contents  of 
Questions  6,  7,  5  (this  is  his  order)  ;  comp.  Bacher,  Stein- 
schneider's  Festschrift,  p.  225,  n.  i  ;  above,  notes  578,  614. 
It  should  be  noted  that  the  passage  corresponding  to  Ques- 
tion 7  contains  elements  which  are  not  found  in  either  of 
the  two  Arabic  recensions,  and  agrees  almost  verbally  with 
the  recension  in  ^fc^lQJi^  ti>*n»  and  in  the  edition  of  Horowitz. 
It  thus  appears  that  Hai's  Responsum  or  a  derivate  of  it  was 
used  by  the  Editor  of  the  recension  in  question. 

Moses  de  Trani  (1505-1585)  incorporated  the  Ten  Ques- 
tions into  his  ethico-ritualistic  work  D^n^X  n^l  (Venice,  1576 ; 
Warsaw,  1872),  part  III,  ch.  59.  His  text  is  that  of  Ibn 
Tibbon.  To  each  Question  he  adds  a  sort  of  commentary, 
which  in  some  instances  is  of  very  considerable  proportions. 
The  extensive  commentary  on  Question  3  was  printed  also 
in  the  later  editions  of  the  H^nnn  "IDD.  This  led  an  unin- 
formed writer  in  the  JR.,  XII,  219,  to  make  Moses  the  author 
of  the  latter  work,  which  he  characterizes  as  a  "  commentary 
and  notes  on  ch.  7  and  8  of  Saadia  Gaon's  Emunot  we- 
Deot.'^ 

The  edition  of  the  Ten  Questions  by  M.  L.  Bisliches  at 
the  end  of  his  edition  of  Shem  Tob  Palquera's  tJ^QJil  1QD, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  V— PHILOSOPHY  2>^7 

Lemberg,  1835,  is  unveracious.  The  text  is  copied  from  Ben- 
Seeb's  edition  of  Ibn  Tibbon's  translation  of  the  'Amdndt, 
but  Bisliches  introduces  the  Questions  as  "  addressed  to 
the  Gaon  by  his  pupils  "  (an  imitation  of  the  edition  in 
'?i^)^\^  l^llD  ;  see  above,  p.  364)  and  pretends  to  have 
drawn  upon  a  MS.  To  Question  3  he  adds  a  commentary 
under  the  name  DVl  Ipn  which  is  that  of  Ben-Seeb,  whose 
name  he  suppresses.  The  "  note  "  (n"n:in)  at  the  very  end 
is  also  copied  from  the  edition  in  ^XlOti'  trilD,  end,  which 
is  found  also  with  some  variations  toward  the  end  of  the 
iTTinn  *1DD,  but  is  not  in  any  of  the  Arabic  recensions. 

4.  jpliani  nnsn  ^SD,  containing  about  two  thirds  of  ch, 
VIII  of  the  'Amdndt  (Landauer,  pp.  229-245,  line  8 ;  Ibn  Tib- 
bon,  ed.  Slucki,  pp.  1 18-125,  line  18)  in  the  translation  (Para- 
phrase) of  the  anonymous  author  (Berechiah,  pp.  62-69,  line 
II,  with  variations).  It  appeared  first  in  Mantua,  1556  (as 
a  continuation  of  the  n^nnn  *1QD,  which  appeared  but  two 
months  earlier)  and  has  since  been  frequently  reprinted.  It 
is  reproduced  with  a  German  translation  in  the  work  T]^^^ 
ti^:im^  of  the  apostate  Joh.  Salomon  of  Posen  (Danzig, 
1675),  who  subsequently  wrote  a  special  book  in  refutation 
of  Saadia's  views  regarding  the  expected  redemption  of 
Israel  {"  Zerteilte  Finsterniss,  oder  Widerlegung  des  Buches 
Fajjumi's  von  der  Erlosung  und  befreiung  Israels,"  Dan- 
zig, 1681) .  The  nnsn  nSD  was  edited  also  by  Jacob  Emden, 
who  wrote  a  short  introduction  to  it  (Altona,  1769).  For 
other  editions  see  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2180;  Benjacob, 
Thesaurus,  p.  456,  no.  20. 

It  would  lead  us  too  far  to  treat  here  in  detail  of  the  many 
authors  who,  down  to  the  14th  century,  assiduously  studied 
the  Kitdb  al-Amdndt  in  the  Hebrew  text  of  the  Paraphrase 
instead  of  the  more  accurate  and  scientific  translation  of 
Judah  Ibn  Tibbon,  and  embodied  lengthy  excerpts  therefrom 
in  their  works  in  various  fields  of  learning.  The  names  of 
these  authors  and  their  works,  which  for  the  most  part 
exist  in  MSS.  only,  have  been  pointed  out  by  Zunz  in  Geiger's 
Jildische  Zeitschrift,  X,  4-10  (Gesammelte  Schriften,  III, 
231  ff.)  and  many  more  could  now  be  added  (comp.  Stein- 


368  SAADIA  GAON 

Schneider,  MWJ.,  Ill,  151  :  Judah  Mosconi ;  above,  note  493: 
Judah  Halaz).  Such  an  enumeration  is  not  within  the  scope 
of  the  present  BibHography.  I  shall  mention  only  a  few- 
authors  from  whose  works  lengthy  passages,  taken  from  the 
Paraphrase,  have  been  occasionally  published.  Thus  several 
pages  of  the  Paraphrase  were  published  by  Isidore  Loeb, 
REJ.,  XVIII,  46-52,  from  the  work  'n  mon^D,  a  polemic 
against  Christianity  by  Jacob  b.  Reuben  (1170).  Some  of 
the  citations  are  embodied  in  chapter  XII  of  the  m^H^D, 
which  was  published  in  part  by  Natan  Amram,  Amsterdam, 
1842,  reprinted  at  Stettin,  i860;  comp.  Steinschneider,  CB., 
2032 ;  HB.,  Ill,  44.  Jacob  b.  Reuben's  work  contains  many 
more  extensive  quotations  of  Saadia's  Kitdb  al-Atndndt  in 
the  text  of  the  Paraphrase  (see  Loeb,  ih.,  p.  48),  which  a 
future  editor  of  the  latter  will  have  to  consider.  The  publi- 
cation of  the  whole  work  on  the  basis  of  three  MSS.  was 
begun  by  the  late  Dr.  Adolf  Posnanski,  but  was  interrupted 
by  the  untimely  death  of  the  author,  so  that  only  the  first 
three  chapters  (80  pages)  were  printed  (Warsaw,  1912), 
but  not  yet  published. 

In  the  controversy  between  Aaron  b.  Meshullam  and  the 
aforementioned  Meir  ha-Levi  Abulafia  (see  above,  p.  365) 
regarding  certain  views  of  Maimonides,  especially  those  on 
resurrection,  both  men,  very  well-known  Talmudists  of  the 
twelfth  and  the  thirteenth  centuries,  refer  often  to  Saadia's 
opinion  upon  the  question  at  issue.  Their  source  was  again 
the  paraphrase,  from  which  one  passage  is  quoted  directly 
(^^XDn^i<  nxn3,p.  57;comp.  !&.,  pp.  14,36). 

Numerous  passages  from  Saadia's  work  under  considera- 
tion were  quoted  from  the  Paraphrase  also  by  Moses  Tachau 
(1230)  in  his  fragmentary  D^nn  nnD,  published  by  Kirch- 
heim  in  the  nr^nj  "iVIX,  III,  58-99;  comp.  above,  pp.  281  flF., 
and  Zunz,  in  Geiger's  Jiidische  Zeitschrift,  X,  4-10.  To  the 
parallels  from  the  ninTi  T'55^  given  there  by  Zunz  several 
more  could  be  added ;  comp.  Emunot,  ed.  Slucki,  p.  43,  with 
the  end  of  that  poem  for  the  Fifth  Day :  D^^I^D  nti^yn  D-tynon^ 

n^nyi  nnti  ^'^m  dbnTibbon:  niyiJn)  nn:  n^m  nroD  yntri 
nnoi. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  V— PHILOSOPHY  369 

Hirschfeld,  in  his  Descriptive  Catalogue  of  Hebrew  MSS. 
of  the  Monteiiore  Library,  no.  483,  9,  records  "  Contents  of 
Saadyah's  niJloxn  1DD,  copied  from  a  MS.  written  1540  by 
a  certain  Isaac,"  without  indicating  whether  they  were  taken 
from  the  Paraphrase  or  from  the  translation  of  Ibn  Tibbon. 
They  are  probably  taken  from  the  latter. 

In  more  recent  times  a  few  extracts  from  the  Paraphrase 
have  been  published  by  different  scholars  ;  see  the  references 
above,  p.  361.  The  beginning  of  chapter  VI  appeared  in  the 
periodical  \V)i,l,yg.  An  extract  from  chapter  X  (Landauer, 
p.  iiy/Emiinot,  ed.  Skicki,  Leipzig,  1864,  p.  160;  Berechiah, 
pp.  98  f.),  dealing  with  music,  was  published  by  Stein- 
Schneider  together  with  two  other  pieces  on  the  same  subject, 
under  the  title  KP^DIon  n^^no  D^Dip^  (nnDDH  nvi«,  I,  pp. 
xxixff.).  The  same  passage  was  given  there  by  Stein- 
schneider  in  another  version  taken  from  an  unpublished  com- 
mentary on  the  Kuzari  of  Judah  Halevi,  called  npy^  ri''n,  by 
Jacob  b.  Hayyim  Ferussol  (1422)  ;  see  Steinschneider,  He- 
brdische  Uebersetzungen,  p.  404;  Renan,  Ecrivains,  p.  409; 
Jacob  b.  Hayyim  gives  as  his  source  the  work  \\^:i^\]  D^^iD  of 
Abraham  b.  Hiyya  (about  1130),  w^hich  is  likewise  extant  in 
MSS.  only  (see  Guttmann,M(;^/.,XLVI  446-468 ;  XLVII, 
545-569) ,  but  Steinschneider  {HB.,  XIII,  36)  called  attention 
to  the  fact  that  the  whole  passage  is  only  a  verbal  translation, 
probably  by  Abraham  b.  Hiyya  himself,  of  the  Arabic  text  in 
Saadia's  Kitdb  al-Amandt.  Aside  from  some  variations  in 
terminology  this  translation  agrees  fully  with  that  of  Ibn 
Tibbon.  We  thus  possess  three  different  recensions  of 
Saadia's  theory  of  music,  which  has  not  yet  been  properly 
explained;  comp.  Steinschneider,  JOR.,  XVII,  559  f.,  561, 
no.  16,  and  above,  note  543.  According  to  Steinschneider, 
HB.,  XIII,  36,  the  passage  is  found  in  the  MSS.  of  two 
other  commentaries  on  the  Kuzari,  namely  those  of  Menahem 
b.  Judah  and  Nethanel  Caspi  (both,  like  Jacob  b.  Hayyim, 
pupils  of  Frat  Maimon  and  writing  in  the  year  1422),  who 
also  quote  it  from  Abraham  b.  Hiyya ;  comp.  Steinschneider. 
Alfarabi,  St.  Petersburg,  1869,  p.  79,  n.  16. 

24  * 


370  SAADIA  GAON 

II.      THE  TRANSLATION  OF  JUDAH   IBN   TIBBON 

Though,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Paraphrase  was  more  exten- 
sively used  by  mediaeval  authors  than  has  been  hitherto  ad- 
mitted (Steinschneider,  Hebrdische  Uehersetzimgen,  p.  441, 
n.  502),  yet  it  was  Judah  Ibn  Tibbon's  translation  through 
which  Saadia  was  studied  by  all  non-Arabic  speaking  Jewry 
from  the  Middle  Ages  to  our  time.  Judah  translated  the 
work  in  Lunel,  Southern  France,  in  the  year  11 86,  under  the 
title  mynni  mJl^t^n  IQD.  So  far  no  critical  edition  of  this 
standard  w^ork  has  been  made.  The  following  is  a  brief 
enumeration  and  description  of  the  various  editions : 

1.  Constantinople,  1562,  in  4*°,  in  the  so-called  Rashi 
script.  In  a  colophon  the  dates  of  the  composition  (933) 
and  of  the  translation  (1186)  are  given. 

2.  Amsterdam,  1647,  4*°j  ^  poor  reprint  of  the  Con- 
stantinople edition,  to  which  an  index  of  the  subject  matter 
was  added,  covering  6  pages.  For  a  characterization  of 
this  edition  see  Guttmann,  Die  Religionsphilosophie  des 
Saadia,  p.  2y,  n.  i. 

3.  Berlin,  1789,  4*"*,  with  a  double  commentary  nyi  Ipn 
and  nJ1»K  ^^W  by  Judah  Loeb  Ben-Seeb.  The  text  of 
this  edition,  which  is  a  reprint  of  the  preceding  ones,  is 
full  of  arbitran^  uncritical  changes  and  of  typographical 
errors.  A  new  feature  of  this  edition  is  the  division  of  the 
text  into  comparatively  short  paragraphs  to  facilitate  quota- 
tion. The  division,  too,  is  often  quite  arbitrary  and  unscien- 
tific, but  in  the  absence  of  a  better  one,  writers  on  Saadia 
often  quote  according  to  the  paragraphs  of  this  edition.  The 
commentaries  contain  many  a  valuable  and  learned  remark. 

4.  Leipzig,  1859,  8''°,  by  Fischl  Hirsch,  who  made  use 
also  of  the  editio  prince ps,  Guttmann's  contention  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding  (/.  c.)  ;  see  e.  g.  p.  118,  where  the 
reading  D''DS1JD  is  found  only  in  the  first  edition,  while 
the  other  editions  have  incorrectly  DTIQJO.  The  heading  of 
ch.  VII  (p.  132)  likewise  rests  on  the  Constantinople  edition, 
as  it  was  omitted  in  those  of  Amsterdam  and  Berlin.  On 
p.  23  there  is  an  explanatory  note  in  German  by  Jellinek 
(the  only  one,  not  "  several,"  as  Steinschneider,  Hebrdische 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  V— PHILOSOPHY  371 

Uehersetzungcn,  p.  439,  has  it).  This  edition  has  the  merit 
of  giving  the  references  to  the  Bibhcal  books  for  the  numer- 
ous verses  quoted  in  the  work.  Unfortunately,  however,  the 
references  are  often  incorrect. 

5.  Leipzig,  1864,  small  %^\  by  D.  Slucki  with  an  introduc- 
tion containing  a  sketch  of  Saadia's  Hfe  and  works  (compiled 
from  Rapoport,  Fiirst,  Graetz,  and  others)  and  explanatory 
notes  on  the  text,  mostly  taken  from  Ben-Seeb  and  Fiirst. 
They  have  no  scientific  value.  The  editor's  notes  extend  only 
to  p.  87  (beginning  of  ch.  V)  and  are  then  continued  by 
I.  Dines ;  see  the  latter's  remark  on  the  last  page  of  the  book. 

6.  Cracow,  1880,  8'°,  a  reprint  of  No.  5  with  the  omission 
of  the  Introduction  and  the  suppression  of  the  names  of  the 
two  annotators.  In  this  edition  numberless  misprints  are 
added  to  those  of  the  earlier  editions. 

7.  Josefow,  1885,  8^°,  by  Israel  ha-Levi  with  a  commen- 
tary, n^lttt^n  5'"'nt^.  This  is  the  only  edition  that  appeared 
after  the  publication  of  the  Arabic  original,  but  the  editor,  a 
Russian  Rabbi  of  the  old  school  and  neither  in  touch  nor  in 
sympathy  with  modern  research,  is  not  at  all  aware  of  the 
existence  of  an  Arabic  original.  Nor  does  he  take 
cognizance  of  anything  that  was  written  on  the  subject  by 
Jewish  scholars  for  the  last  hundred  years,  though  he  knows 
of  the  existence  of  such  writings,  as  is  obvious  from  his 
polemics  against  Slucki  (see  his  Introduction,  p.  7).  His 
appreciation  of  Saadia  rests  wholly  on  what  he  gathers  from 
mediaeval  sources,  to  which  he  refers  in  the  Introduction. 
As  he  here  informs  us,  he  made  use  of  four  previous  editions, 
of  which  he  mentions  explicitly  the  editio  prince ps  and  that 
of  Slucki  (the  other  two  are  probably  those  of  Amsterdam 
and  Berlin) .  His  text,  which  he,  too,  divided  into  short  para- 
graphs is  on  the  whole  more  correct  than  that  of  the  other 
editions.  In  several  passages,  however,  which  contain 
Saadia's  polemic  against  Christianity  (pp.  92,  183  f.),  it  was 
mutilated  by  the  Russian  censor.  His  references  to  Bible 
and  Talmud  are  likewise  correct ;  his  commentary,  written 
in  a  lucid  style,  shows  remarkable  insight  and  keen  pene- 
tration into  the  real  meaning  of  the  difficult  text,  and  his  sug- 


372  SAADIA  GAON 

gestions  as  to  eventual  emendations  are  often  supported 
by  the  original.  It  goes  without  saying  that  due  to  the  cor- 
ruptions in  the  text  and  to  other  reasons  he  at  times  falls 
into  misinterpretations,  but  on  the  whole  he  understood 
Saadia  better  than  all  previous  commentators  (Fiirst  not 
excluded).  Considering  the  nature  of  the  author's  re- 
sources, as  well  as  the  public  for  which  he  wrote,  his  com- 
mentary must  be  recognized  as  a  highly  creditable  produc- 
tion. The  work  is  preceded  by  a  dictionary  of  philosophic 
terms  in  mediaeval  Hebrew  literature  (published  also  sep- 
arately under  the  title  ^Xltr^  ^xn,  Josefow,  1886).  Most  of 
the  terms  are  fairly  well  explained,  while  the  explanation  of 
a  few  others  (as  ni^ti^n  D^^DD,  Dnn^,  P^n)  shows  the 
author's  naivete. 

A  critical  edition  based  on  all  the  existing  MSS.  and  on  a 
careful  comparison  of  the  Arabic  recensions,  including  the 
Genizah  fragments,  has  been  prepared  by  the  present  writer 
and  \\\\\  be  published  soon  after  the  present  work. 

Ever  since  the  Arabic  original  was  made  accessible, 
first  through  copies  from  the  MSS.  and  later  through  Lan- 
dauer's  edition,  various  scholars  have  repeatedly  furnished 
notes  and  emendations  to  Ibn  Tibbon's  text,  which  are  scat- 
tered in  several  periodicals  and  other  publications.  They  are 
of  considerable  value  and  should  therefore  not  be  omitted 
from  this  Bibliography : 

L.  Loewe,  in  the  Hebrew  weekly  n^:iDn,  1867,  p.  37. 

M.  Wolff,  ZDMG.,  XXXn  (1878),  694-707,  continued 
in  MWJ.,  Vn  (1880),  73-100,  Vni,  60  (to  the  whole  work 
with  the  exception  of  chapter  VH). 

D.  Kaufmann,  ZDMG.,  XXXVII  (1883),  230-149  (to  the 
Introduction  only,  for  which  he  compared  also  MSS.  of  the 
Paraphrase ;  comp.  also  his  article  in  Rahmer's  Jildisches 
Liter atitrblatt,  1878,  p.  65). 

S.  H.  Margulies,  MWJ.,  XV  (1888),  123-133;  160-169; 
XVII  (1890),  280-288;  Kaufmann's  Gedenkhuch,  Breslau 
1900,  pp.  210-220  (covering  altogether  the  Introduction  and 
the  first  six  chapters).  It  is  rather  strange  that  in  his  intro- 
ductory remarks  to  the  article  in  Kaufmann's  Gedenkhuch 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  V— PHILOSOPHY  Z7Z 

the  author  states  that  the  latter  is  a  continuation  of  two  pre- 
vious articles  which  he  had  published  in  MWJ.,  XV,  but 
omits  the  reference  to  his  third  article  in  MVVJ.,  XVII, 
from  which  about  a  third  of  the  notes  are  here  repeated. 

W.  Bacher,  Kaufmann's  Gedenkhuch,  pp.  188-207  (to  the 
whole  book),  followed  by  a  specimen  of  his  intended  edition 
of  the  whole  text  (taken  from  ch.  i,  ed.  Slucki,  pp.  21  f.). 

I.  Goldziher,  RE  J.,  LX  (1910),  32  f. 

Aside  from  these  separate  articles  on  the  subject  numer- 
ous emendations  of  Ibn  Tibbon's  text  were  occasionally  sug- 
gested by  Bloch,  Guttmann,  Bacher,  and  Horovitz,  in  the 
works  to  be  mentioned  below. 

For  completeness'  sake  I  mention  here  the  work  Dnin  ^nins 
by  the  well-known  Russian-Hebrew  writer  Isaac  Baer 
Levinsohn,  which  was  written  in  1845,  but  published  for  the 
first  time  by  his  nephew  B.  Nathansohn,  Warsaw,  1903 
(see  the  latter 's  biography  of  Levinsohn  under  the  title 
niJIIDTn  1CD,  Warsaw,  1899,  p.  156,  n.  2).  The  work  con- 
sists of  seven  literary  pieces,  the  sixth  of  which  (pp.  54-77) 
is  an  abridged  and,  as  the  author  thought,  emended  edition 
of  Ibn  Tibbon's  text  of  Saadia's  Introduction,  with  a  pro- 
fuse commentary  in  which  the  author  tries  to  justify  his 
arbitrary  changes.  As  he  had  no  other  sources  than  the 
corrupt  Berlin  edition,  his  emendations  are  mere  guesswork 
and  of  no  critical  value.  So  far  as  I  know  no  reference 
is  found  anywhere  to  this  curious  attempt  of  the  so-called 
"  Russian  Mendelssohn." 

b)   Latin 

1.  Joh.  Gagnier,  Specimen  novae  editionis  lihri  niJ*i?ONn 
niyim  etc.  Oxford,  1717,  for  which  see  Fiirst,  Bihliotheca 
Judaica,  I,  268;  Steinschneider,  Christliche  Hebraisten,  in 
ZfhB.,  Ill,  13 ;  comp.  above,  p.  360. 

2.  Theodor  Dassov,  Diatribe  qua  Judaeos  de  resiirrec- 
tione  mortuorum  sententia  erasse  explicatur  etc.,  Witten- 
berg, 1675,  containing  the  translation  of  most  of  the  seventh 
chapter ;  see  Fiirst,  /.  c.,  I,  197,  268.  As  regards  the  author 
see  Steinschneider,  /.  c.,  II,  124. 


374  SAADIA  GAON 

c)   German 

1.  J.  Salomon,  translation  of  ch.  VIII,  see  above,  p.  367, 
no.  4. 

2.  Julius  Fiirst,  Emunot  we-Deot,  oder  Glauhenslehre  iind 
Philosophie  von  Saadja  Fajjumi,  Leipzig,  1845.  This  trans- 
lation or  rather  paraphrase  of  the  whole  work  of  Ibn  Tibbon 
with  the  exception  of  chapter  X  (ethics)  has  been  justly- 
designated  as  entirely  inadequate,  or  as  Steinschneider  {He- 
hrdische  Uehersetzimgen,  p.  439)  puts  it,  "  not  worth  the 
trouble  that  scholars  have  taken  in  trying  to  correct  some  of 
its  mistakes."  Fiirst  is  not  to  be  blamed  too  much  for  these 
mistakes,  for  nobody  could  have  correctly  translated  Ibn  Tib- 
bon's  text  without  the  aid  of  the  Arabic  original.  It  would 
have  been  better,  however,  not  to  have  published  a  work  of 
which  a  considerable  part  had  to  be  based  on  vague  con- 
jectures. 

3.  Philipp  Bloch,  Vom  Glauben  und  Wissen,  Miinchen, 
1879,  containing  the  translation  of  the  Introduction  and  of 
the  first  chapter  (reprint  from  Rahmer's  Judisches  Liter- 
aturblatt).  Bloch  made  use  also  of  a  MS.  of  the  anonymous 
Paraphrase,  and  his  translation,  so  far  as  it  goes,  is  incom- 
parably superior  to  that  of  Fiirst.  But  as  the  original  was  at 
that  time  inaccessible  in  print,  he  likewise  often  misunder- 
stood the  text.  While  it  was  in  the  course  of  publication 
M.  Wolff's  notes  and  emendations  of  the  Hebrew  text, 
based  on  a  comparison  of  a  MS.  of  the  Arabic  original  (see 
above,  p.  372),  appeared,  following  which  Bloch  appended 
additions  to  his  work,  wherein  most  of  the  mistakes  were 
corrected  ;  comp.  also  Bloch's  article,  MGWJ.,  1870,  pp.  401- 
414,449-456. 

4.  A.  Kaminka,  Die  Litteratur  der  geondischen  Zeit,  in 
Winter  and  Wiinsche's  Die  jiidische  Litteratur,  II  (1897), 
31-39,  translated  part  of  the  Introduction  (Landauer, 
pp.  1-5,  1.  12;  Hebrew  text  ed.  Cracow,  1880,  pp.  1-4,  1.  7) 
and  nearly  half  of  the  sixth  chapter  (Landauer,  pp.  188- 
198,  1.  6;  Hebrew  text,  pp.  127-132,  1.  18). 

5.  Wilhelm  Engelkemper,  Die  religionsphilosophische 
Lehre  Saadja  Gaons  iiber  die  Heilige  Schrift,  Miinster,  1903, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  V— PHILOSOPHY  375 

containing  the  translation  of  chapter  III  with  a  general 
Introduction  and  copious  notes.  The  author,  who  had  pre- 
viously published  a  learned  biography  of  Saadia  in  Latin 
(see  above,  note  191),  translates  from  the  Arabic  original 
with  the  aid  of  the  Hebrew  text  of  Ibn  Tibbon,  and  on 
the  whole  acquits  himself  creditably ;  but  not  being  suffi- 
ciently familiar  with  the  ideas  and  sources  of  mediaeval 
Jewish  theology,  which  is  the  essential  content  of  this  chap- 
ter, he  often  misunderstands  and  misinterprets  both  texts. 
The  Introduction,  too,  contains  a  number  of  misstatements, 
as  for  instance  that  Israeli's  treatise  (see  Steinschneider's 
Festschrift,  pp.  131  i¥.;  TQR.,  XV,  689  ff.)  exists  only  in 
Latin  (p.  2,  n.  2),  that  ch.  V  of  the  Emunot  appeared  in  the 
Dn^Dn  "IDD  (p.  6,  n.  2),  while  in  fact  only  about  one  page 
is  there  reproduced  (see  above,  p.  362,  no.  i)  ;  comp.  the 
reviews  of  Guttmann,  Theologische  Literaturzeitiing,  1904, 
no.  2  ;  Seybold,  Orientalistische  Litteratur-Zeitiing,  VII,  255. 
Chapter  VIII  was  partly  translated  into  French  by  Michel 
A.  Weill,  L'Univers  Israelite,  1870,  pp.  271  ff.  For  transla- 
tions of  other  part  into  French  (Munk)  and  English 
(Hirschfeld)  see  above,  pp.  359  f. 

In  this  connection  it  should  also  be  recorded  that  in  1840 
Steinschneider,  in  collaboration  with  Julius  Barrasch,  pre- 
pared a  translation  of  and  a  commentary  on  the  Emunot,  but, 
as  he  explicitly  states  in  his  CB.,  2175,  postponed  publica- 
tion until  a  more  reliable  Hebrew  text  should  be  available. 
This  translation  and  commentary  are  now  in  my  possession ; 
the  author,  who,  I  am  proud  to  say,  was  my  beloved  teacher 
and  friend,  having  placed  them  at  my  disposal.  The  une- 
qualled position  of  Steinschneider  in  the  field  of  Jewish  litera- 
ture warrants  a  short  description  of  his  unpublished  work. 
The  MS.,  covering  578  pages  in  quarto,  contains  the  trans- 
lation of  the  whole  text  with  the  exception  of  ch.  X.  The 
Introduction  (of  Saadia)  and  the  first  four  chapters  (pp. 
1-256)  are  translated  by  Julius  Barrasch,  a  distinguished 
physician  and  writer  who  died  at  Bucharest  in  1863.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  the  first  twenty  pages  are  written  in 
Judseo-German,   the   rest  in   German  script.     The  margin 


Z'jd  SAADIA  GAON 

shows  numerous  corrections  by  Steinschneider.  Barrasch 
began  the  translation  in  Prague,  "  Friday,  24th  of  January, 
1840"  and  finished  it  "Sunday  the  17th  of  July"  in  the 
same  year.  The  remaining  five  chapters  are  translated  by 
Steinschneider.  In  the  course  of  time  he  made  various 
changes  in  the  MS.  so  that  the  deciphering  is  sometimes  diffi- 
cult. On  the  margin  are  numerous  notes,  partly  in  Judaeo- 
German  script  by  Barrasch,  but  mostly  from  the  hand  of 
Steinschneider.  At  the  end  of  the  volume  is  a  complete  index 
of  the  Biblical  and  Talmudic  passages  of  the  Emunot,  but 
unfortunately  the  pagination  refers  to  the  edition  of  Ben- 
Seeb  which  to-day  is  worthless.  I  hope  to  prepare  the  whole 
work  for  publication. 

The  "  Commentary "  to  which  Steinschneider  referred 
is  a  separate  little  volume  of  70  pages.  It  does  not  really 
explain  Ibn  Tibbon's  text,  but  is  more  in  the  form  of  a 
glossary,  elucidating  the  peculiar  words  and  phrases  of  the 
translator  by  references  to  analogous  passages  in  the  works 
of  the  same  writer  and  in  other  philosophic  treatises.  The 
terminological  material  collected  in  this  little  volume  by  thou- 
sands of  references  is  almost  inexhaustible.  Part  of  it  was 
utilized  by  Delitzsch  in  his  edition  of  the  D^^n  TV  by  the 
Karaite  Aaron  b.  Elijah  (Leipzig,  1841 ;  comp.  Delitzsch's  In- 
troduction to  the  edition,  p.  14),  and  later  by  Steinschneider 
himself  in  his  numerous  writings,  but  much  of  it  can  only  be 
used  in  connection  with  a  critical  edition  of  Ibn  Tibbon's  text. 

In  conclusion  mention  should  be  made  of  two  MSS.  com- 
mentaries on  the  'Einunot  by  mediaeval  authors  (cod.  De 
Rossi,  nos.  769,  1283),  for  which  see  Steinschneider,  CB., 
2175,  no.  4. 

C.    BIBLIOGRAPHY  * 

A.  Geiger,  Wissenschaftliche  Zeitschrift,  V  (1844),  291- 

314. 

S.  Munk,  Melanges  de  philosophie  jnive  et  arabe,  Paris, 
1859,  pp.  477  ff. 

*  General  works,  monographs,  essays,  etc.,  in  which  characteriza- 
tions of  Saadia's  philosophy,  or  of  some  particular  branch  thereof 
are  to  be  found  (in  chronological  order). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  V— PHILOSOPHY  2,77 

H.  Graetz,  Geschichte  der  Jiiden,  V,  fourth  edition  by 
S.  Eppenstein,  Leipzig,  1909,  pp.  296-312;  Hebrew  transla- 
tion by  S.  P.  Rabbinowicz  with  notes  by  Harkavy,  vol.  Ill, 
Warsaw,  1893,  pp.  292-306.  In  the  EngHsh  translation 
(Philadelphia,  1894),  vol.  Ill,  pp.  197  f.,  this  most  important 
part  of  Saadia's  scientific  work  was  unwisely  omitted. 

A.  Schmiedl,  Saadia  Alfajumi  und  die  negativen  Vorzilge 
seiner  Religionsphilosophie,  Vienna,  1870. 

M.  Eisler,  Vorlesungen  ilher  die  jiidischen  Philosophen  des 
Mittelalters,  Vienna,  1876,  pp.  1-43  (with  an  appendix,  con- 
taining Hebrew  extracts  from  the  Emunot),  a  very  valuable 
summary  of  Saadia's  philosophy,  though  in  some  parts 
antiquated. 

D.  Kaufmann,  Geschichte  der  Attributenlehre,  Gotha, 
1877,  pp.  1-77  (with  an  appendix  entitled  Der  schriftstel- 
lerische  Charakter  des  "  Emunoth,"  pp.  78-90),  a  very  im- 
portant study ;  comp.  Brull,  Jahrhiicher,  IV,  134-156 ;  see  also 
Kaufmann,  Die  Sinne,  Leipzig,  1884,  index,  s.  v.  Saadia. 

M.  Joel,  Beitrdge  zur  Geschichte  der  Philosophic^  II,  Bres- 
lau,  1878,  Anhang,  pp.  34-44  (reprint  from  Wertheimer's 
Jahrhuch  fiir  Israeliten,  5626,  Vienna,  1866). 

Jacob  Guttmann,  Die  Religionsphilosophie  des  Saadia, 
Gottingen,  1882,  the  best  work  on  Saadia's  philosophy. 
Following  the  order  of  the  Hebrew  text  the  author  gives  an 
excellent  translation  of  the  most  essential  parts  of  the  work 
elucidating  each  of  the  translated  portions  by  general  dis- 
cussions and  by  quoting  numerous  parallel  passages  from 
Greek  and  Arabic  writers,  thus  presenting  the  content  of  the 
whole  as  a  fairly  complete  system.  The  work  is  preceded 
by  a  well-written  general  Introduction  (p.  1-32)  ;  comp. 
Steinschneider,  Deutsche  Literaturzeitung,  1883,  p.  yy ;  see 
also  Guttmann,  Die  Beziehungen  der  maimonidischen  Reli- 
gions-philosophic zu  der  des  Saadia,  in  Israel  Lewy's  Fest- 
schrift, Breslau,  191 1,  pp.  308-326,  also  in  Moses  h.  Maimon, 
II  (Leipzig,  1914),  201-216. 

M.  Wolfif,  Ein  Wort  Uber  Religion  und  Philosophic  nach 
Auifassung  Saadjd  al-Fajjiimfs,  ZDMG.,  XLIV  (1890), 
154-164. 


3/8  SAADIA  GAON 

W.  Bacher,  Die  Bihelexegese  der  judischen  Religions- 
philosophen  des  Mittelalters  vor  Maimuni,  Strassburg,  1892, 
pp.  1-44,  dealing  exhaustively  with  Saadia's  philosophic 
Bible  exegesis,  particularly  in  the  Kitdh  al-Amdndt. 

M.  Schreiner,  Der  Kaldm  in  der  jiidischen  Literatur 
(printed  in  the  Dreizehnter  Bericht  Uber  die  Lehranstalt 
fiir  die  Wissenschaft  des  Jiidenthiims  in  Berlin),  Berlin, 
1895,  pp.  5-22.  The  author  quotes  extensively  from  the 
works  of  Muhammedan  writers,  showing  in  particular 
Saadia's  relation  to  the  philosophy  of  the  Mutakallimun. 

G.  H[enkel],  Religiozno-Filosofskoe  Sochinenie  Saadii 
Gaona,  Voskhod,  1895,  II,  3-20;  III,  51-62;  IV,  3-20;  VI, 
3-31.     See  also  above,  note  191. 

S.  Bernfeld,  D^n^X  DV"!,  Warsaw,  1897,  pp.  1 13-139;  see 
also  above,  note  191. 

Ph.  Bloch,  Die  jiidische  Religions philosophie  (reprint 
from  Winter  and  Wiinsche,  Die  jiidische  Litteratur,  II 
(1897),  704-715). 

J.  P.  Muller,  De  Godsleer  der  Middleeuwsche  Joden, 
Groningen,  1898,  pp.  59-89. 

S.  Horovitz,  Die  Psychologic  bei  den  jiidischen  Religions- 
philosophen  des  Mittelalters  von  Saadia  his  Maimuni  (in 
the  ''  Jahres-Bericht "  oi  the  Jewish  Theological  Seminary  of 
Breslau),  Breslau,  1898,  part  I,  pp.  1-75,  a  learned  work 
with  copious  notes,  in  which  numerous  Greek  sources  are 
adduced.  His  emendations  of  the  Arabic  and  Hebrew  texts, 
however,  are  often  far-fetched.  See  also  Horovitz,  Uher  die 
Bekanntschaft  Saadia's  mit  der  griechischen  Skepsis,  in  Her- 
mann Cohen's  Festschrift,  Berlin,  191 2,  pp.  235-252. 

D.  Neumark,  Geschichte  der  judischen  Philosophie  des 
Mittelalters  (I,  Berlin,  1907,  pp.  429-469  ;  536-551) ,  a  volum- 
inous work  showing  great  erudition,  keen  reasoning,  and 
admirable  industry.  Owing  to  the  author's  extremely  dog- 
matic conception  of  the  history  and  development  of  Jewish 
philosophy,  however,  his  conclusions  will  hardly  find  general 
acceptance. 

David  Rau,  Die  Ethik  R.  Saadjas  in  MGWJ.,  191 1,  pp. 
385-399,513-530,713-728;  1912,  pp.  65-79,  181-198,  the  most 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  VI— POLEMICS  379 

exhaustive  study  on  this  particular  subject.  The  end  of 
this  work  has  not  yet  appeared.  The  author  died  before  he 
had  a  chance  to  print  his  book;  it  was  to  be  pubHshed  by 
Brann,  the  editor  of  the  MGWJ,  who  in  the  meantime  has 
also  passed  away. 

Isaac  Husik,  A  History  of  Mediceval  Jewish  Philosophy, 
New  York,  1916,  pp.  23-47  (comp.  Malter,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol. 
VIII  (1917-1918),  pp.  233-244). 

H.  Malter,  Seadiah,  in  Hastings's  Encyclopaedia  of  Re- 
ligion and  Ethics,  XI  (1920),  279-282. 

In  addition  to  the  monographs  on  Saadia's  philosophy 
here  enumerated  and  the  more  comprehensive  works  which 
deal  with  the  latter  in  its  entirety  or  with  some  im- 
portant branch  thereof,  there  are  numerous  dissertations  in 
which  certain  phases  of  Saadia's  philosophy  are  more  or 
less  minutely  discussed.  Of  these  the  following  may  be 
mentioned. 

A.  Schmiedl,  Studien  Uber  jiidische  Religionsphilosophie, 
Vienna,  1869,  in  which  various  theories  of  Saadia  are  un- 
systematically  discussed.  The  work  has  no  index ;  see, 
however,  pp.  42,  59,  78,  88,  94,  100  f¥.,  134-138,  160,  165  f., 
172-175,  185,  198,  223-225,  252  f. ;  comp.  Geiger,  Jiidische 
Zeitschrift,  VIII,  171-177,  and  for  a  contrary  view  as  to  the 
merits  of  Schmiedl's  work,  see  Steinschneider,  HB.,  XI, 
139-141. 

D.  Rosin,  Die  Ethik  des  Maimonides,  Breslau,  1876,  p.  10. 

L.  Stein,  Die  Willensfreiheit  und  ihr  Verhdltmss  zur  gott- 
lichen  Prdscienz  und  Providenz  bei  den  jiidischen  Philoso- 
phen  des  Mittelalters,  Berlin,  1882,  p.  1-14. 

David  Joel,  Der  Aberglaube  und  die  Siellung  des  Juden- 
thums  zu  demselben,  II,  Breslau,  1883,  pp.  2-10  (discussing 
Saadia's  attitude  toward  superstition). 

L.  Knoller,  Das  Problem  der  Willensfreiheit  in  der  alt  ere  fi 
jiidischen  Religionsphilosophie  des  Mittelalters,  Leipzig, 
1884,  pp.  17-29. 

N.  Sandler,  Das  Problem  der  Prophetic  in  der  jiidischen 
Religionsphilosophie  von  Saadia  bis  Maimuni,  Breslau,  1891, 
pp.  14-22. 


38o  SAADIA  GAON 

B.  Templer,  Die  U nsterhlichkeitslehre  bei  den  jiidischen 
Philosophen  des  Mittelalters,  Leipzig,  1895,  pp.  2i-2)4. 

J.  Kramer,  Das  Problem  des  Wunders  im  Zusammenhang 
niit  dem  der  Providenz  bei  den  jiidischen  Religionsphilo- 
sophen  des  Mittelalters  von  Saadia  bis  Maimuni,  Strassburg, 
1903,  pp.  '7-2y.  Kramer  treats  the  subject  very  satisfac- 
torily. 

For  various  references  to  older  works  see  Steinschneider, 
CB.,  2iy2  ff. ;  idem,  Hebrdische  Uehersetziingen,  pp.  439  ff. ; 
AL.,  pp.  51  f. 

VI.  POLEMICS 

1.  Kitdb  al-Radd'ald'Andn  i\^V  ''?V  Ti^X  ixriD),  "  Refu- 
tation of  Anan."  For  details  relating  to  this  work,  of 
which  nothing  but  a  few  quotations  has  been  preserved,  see 
Poznanski's  exhaustive  study,  The  Anti-Karaite  Writings  of 
Saadiah  Gaon,  JQR.,  X,  240  ff. ;  comp.  also  Poznahski,  The 
Karaite  Literary  Opponents  of  Saadiah  Gaon  (reprint  from 
JQR.,  XVIII-XX,  hereafter  quoted  by  the  initials  KLO), 
London,  1908,  p.  72,  no.  32,  and  p.  94,  Addenda  to  p.  242. 
The  work  is  also  mentioned  in  an  ancient  book-list  (12th 
century) ,  JQR.,  XIII,  54,  no.  69  ;  comp.  Steinschneider,  AL., 
PP-  5L  339 ;  Poznanski,  JQR.,  XIII,  329,  no.  69 ;  RE  J.,  XLV, 
192,  no.  2;  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XIX,  136  ff;  see  also  RE  J., 
XXXIX,  208,  lines  4  f.,  with  reference  to  no.  19. 

2.  Kitdb  al-Tamyiz  {V^'on'?^  nt^DD,  in  Hebrew  sources 
r\'^'2r\r]  IDD,  or  innon  ICD),  ''Book  of  Distinction,"  L  e.  of 
critical  analysis.  Of  this  work  against  the  Karaites,  which 
is  supposed  to  have  been  very  voluminous  (see  Poznanski, 
KLO.,  p.  95,  n.  i),  several  fragments  of  considerable  length 
and  extensive  extracts  in  the  ]\IS.  work  of  the  Karaite 
Jephet  b.  'AH  (altogether  about  fifteen  pages  in  print)  have 
thus  far  become  known.  Not  all  of  the  fragments,  however, 
have  been  positively  identified  as  having  formed  part  of  the 
Kitdb  al-Tamyiz. 

a)  A  fragment  of  a  work  by  a  certain  Nathan  b.  Isaac 
al-Sikili  (of  Sicili)  which  seems  to  have  been  a  compilation 
from  older  sources  in  defence  of  Jewish  tradition  in  general 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  VI— POLEMICS  381 

and  the  calendar  in  particular.  Nearly  the  whole  fragment,  is 
according  to  the  statement  of  the  compiler,  a  verbal  repro- 
duction of  the  first  chapter  of  Saadia's  Kitdb  al-Tamyiz. 
It  was  pubhshed  by  Schechter,  Saadyana,  no.  ix,  pp.  30-34 ; 
comp.  Poznanski  KLO.,  p.  96;  idem,  Zur  jiidisch-arabischen 
Literatur,  p.  42;  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  pp.  76,  113,  n.  2,  and 
above,  under  Calendar,  p.  169,  no.  5. 

b)  The  concluding  portion  of  the  work,  three  printed 
pages,  pubhshed  by  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XVI,  102-105.  For  a 
full  description  of  the  content  see  Hirschfeld's  introductory 
remarks  {ibidem,  pp.  98  f.)  and  especially  Poznanski,  KLO., 
pp.  94-96. 

c)  Numerous  passages  reproduced  verbally  by  Jephet  b. 
'Ali  in  his  Commentaries  on  the  Bible.  These  were  collected 
by  Poznanski  and  published  in  JQR.,  X,  246-251. 

d)  A  fragment  of  nearly  three  pages  containing  a  defence 
of  the  calendar  and  its  authority,  published  with  an  EngHsh 
translation  and  annotations  by  Poznanski,  JQR.,  X,  261-274. 
Poznanski's  arguments  in  favor  of  Saadia's  authorship  of 
this  anonymous  fragment  seem  to  me  fully  convincing.  The 
question  is  only  to  which  work  of  Saadia  it  belonged,  but  as 
the  iny^X  ni<nD,  suggested  by  Poznanski  (p.  274)  is,  for 
reasons  given  above  (p.  169,  no.  5;  see  also  p.  352,  no.  5), 
out  of  the  question,  the  only  work  that  can  come  seriously 
into  consideration  is  the  Kitdb  al-Tamyiz,  which  is  also  sug- 
gested by  Poznanski.  For  another  fragment,  thought  by 
Harkavy  to  have  been  part  of  the  Kitdb  al-Tamyis,  see  below, 
no.  3r. 

e)  A  passage  quoted  in  Hebrew  by  Abraham  b.  Hiyya 
in  his  ^nyn  nQD,  London,  1851,  p.  96,  in  which  the  date 
of  the  composition  Tb'lbVnTzr 926-7  is  given;  comp.  Poz- 
nanski, JQR.,  X,  245.  The  passage  is  reproduced  also  among 
the  D^tDIP^,  given  by  Muller,  Oeuvres  completes,  IX,  149,  no. 
15;  Rapoport,  T^D  Tiy,  pp.  85,  87.  For  references  to  the 
Tamyiz  in  the  works  of  some  other  mediseval  authors  see 
Poznanski,  /.  c.;  comp.  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  50,  no.  12  ;  Ep- 
penstein, Beitrdge,  pp.  y6  f . 


382  SAADIA  GAON 

In  view  of  the  comprehensive  character  of  the  Kitab  al- 
Tamyiz  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  passage  (two  pages  in 
print)  quoted  by  a  Karaite  in  his  Arabic  polemic  against 
Saadia  (Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  VIII  (1917-1918),  pp. 
183  ff.)  is  likewise  part  of  this  work.  That  it  was  taken  from 
a  work  against  the  admissibility  of  kiyas  (speculation)  in 
matters  of  tradition  (Hirschfeld,  ih.,  p.  167)  is  without  basis, 
as  there  is  no  evidence  that  such  a  work  by  Saadia  ever  ex- 
isted (see  this  Bibliography,  VII,  p.  400,  no.  13).  Saadia's 
views  on  Mishnah  and  Talmud  (p.  170)  agree  with  those 
found  in  some  other  works  of  his.  Unfortunately,  the  editor's 
translation  of  the  passage  is  incorrect  and  unintelHgible.  In 
place  of  what  is  given  there  11.  22-30  read  as  follows :  "  they 
betook  themselves  to  the  consideration  of  the  principles  (of 
the  oral  law)  and  fixed  them,  calling  the  v^hole  Mishnah,  but 
the  details  they  left  unfixed  in  the  hope  that  these  would  be 
preserved  by  the  fixing  of  the  aforementioned  principles.  So 
it  was.  The  details  thus  left  unfixed  were  preserved  until  we 
went  into  the  second  exile  and  were  scattered  even  more  than 
in  the  first.  Then  the  scholars  feared  (read  in  Arabic: 
fahafa)  that — as  had  happened  previously  (read:  kadiman), 
before  it  (the  Mishnah)  was  fixed — they  might  be  forgotten  ; 
they  therefore  betook  themselves  also  to  the  consideration  of 
the  details  and  fixed  these.    This  they  called  Talmud." 

3.  Kitab  al-Radd  'aid  Ibn  Sakawaihi  (pN  ^^V  nn^>?  ni<nD 
H'-IPXD),  "Refutation  of  Ibn  Sakawaihi."  Of  this  work 
some  extensive  fragments,  covering  eleven  pages  in  print, 
have  latterly  been  recovered. 

a)  A  fragment  discovered  by  Harkavy,  part  of  which  he 
edited  in  the  Russian  periodical  Woskhod,  January,  1900, 
p.  83.  The  same  portion  was  re-edited  with  a  French  trans- 
lation by  Poznanski,  REJ.,  XL,  88-90.  The  entire  fragment 
was  published  with  an  English  translation  and  notes  by  Har- 
kavy, JQR.,  XIII  (1901),  662-667,  and  for  a  second  time 
with  a  Hebrew  translation  by  the  same  in  the  Hebrew  peri- 
odical Dlpn,  I  (1907),  124-128.  A  much-damaged  portion 
of  the  same  fragment  was  published  from  another  Genizah 
MS.  by  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XVI,   112,  no.  x.     The  whole 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  VI— POLEMICS  383 

fragment  belong's,  according  to  Hirschfeld  {ibidem,  p.  100, 
bottom),  to  the  earlier  part  of  the  work;  comp.  Poznahski, 
KLO.,  p.  6,  n.  6. 

b)  Six  leaves  belonging  to  the  middle  part  of  the  book, 
pubHshed  by  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XVI,  105-112,  who  gives  also 
a  summary  of  the  contents  (pp.  99-102). 

c)  A  fragment  edited  by  Harkavy  with  an  English  trans- 
lation and  notes  as  part  of  the  Kitdh  al-Tamyiz  (JQR.,  XIII, 
655-660),  which  is  assigned,  however,  by  Hirschfeld  with 
much  more  probability  to  the  latter  part  of  the  work  under 
discussion ;  see  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XVI,  100  f ;  comp.  Poz- 
nanski,  KLO.,  p.  7,  n.  4.  This  fragment,  like  the  one  men- 
tioned above  (no.  3a),  was  published  by  Harkavy  for  a 
second  time  with  a  Hebrew  translation  in  h^\>T\,  I  (1907), 
64-68. 

d)  A  lengthy  passage  quoted  in  Hebrew  translation  by 
Judahb.  Barzillai  of  Barcelona  (i  135),  in  his  HI^V^  ISD  t^ns 
pubHshed  by  Halberstam,  Berlin,  1885,  p.  20,  line  19  to  p.  22, 
line  2  (comp.  the  notes  of  Halberstam  and  Kaufmann  on 
pp.  282,  334).  The  passage  had  been  previously  published 
by  Luzzatto  in  Dip  niD'^^n,  pp.  69  ff. ;  comp.  also  Luzzatto, 
IVIi^n  n^n,  I  (Lemberg,  1847),  12.  That  the  passage  was 
taken  from  the  work  against  Ibn  Sakawaihi,  however,  is  only 
a  probable  conjecture,  but  not  positively  established  (see 
above,  p.  267,  top ;  comp.  Poznanski,  JQR.,  VIII,  690 ;  KLO., 
p.  6,  n.  7  ;  9,  n.  2,  and  p.  97,  top. 

e)  Another  shorter  passage  in  Hebrew  quoted  by  the 
same  author,  p.  34,  hues  3-16.  Here  too  the  origin  is  not 
quite  certain  ;  see  Poznanski,  //.  cc. 

f)  A  passage  quoted  in  Hebrew  by  Abraham  b.  Hiyya 
(1136)  in  his  "lliyn  nQD,  p.  94,  which,  as  Poznanski  properly 
suggests  {JQR.,  X,  253),  is  taken  from  our  work.  In 
Oeiivre  completes  de  Saadia,  IX,  141,  no.  50,  this  passage  is 
placed  among  Saadia's  Responsa,  where  it  hardly  belongs ; 
comp.  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  48;  above,  p.  349.  For  other 
quotations  in  the  works  of  Rabbanite  and  Karaite  authors  see 
Poznanski,  JQR.,  X,  252-254;  comp.  Steinschneider,  AL., 
p.  51,  no.  15,  where,  however,  the  reference  to  a  fragment, 


384  SAADIA  GAON 

edited  by  Lambert,  REJ.,  XL,  84,  is  a  mistake,  as  that  frag- 
ment is  part  of  Saadia's  M^^n  nSD;  see  Lambert,  /.  c,  p.  260. 
Bacher  (REJ.,  XXXIX,  205  f.,  nos.  4  and  5)  finds  the  book 
mentioned  in  an  ancient  book-list  of  the  Geninah. 

4.  Kitah  al-Radd  'aid  al-Mntahdmil  ''pV  in^j<  2KnD 
(?Drn)  ^DXnnn^'K),  "Refutation  of  the  Overbearing  Ag- 
gressor," perhaps  again  Ibn  Sakawaihi.  Only  two  leaves 
have  so  far  been  found  and  published  by  Hirschf eld  with  an 
English  translation  and  notes,  JQR.,  XVIII,  113-119.  For 
quotations  by  Hebrew  authors  (under  the  title  '?V  nilt^n 
lyiton)  see  Poznanski,  JQR.,  X,  254  f. ;  Steinschneider,  AL., 
p.  51,  no.  14.  The  quotations  of  Judah  b.  Barzillai,  to  which 
both  Steinschneider  and  Poznanski  refer,  were  later  assigned 
by  Poznanski  to  Saadia's  work  against  Ibn  Sakawaihi ;  see 
the  references  above,  no.  3,  letters  d  and  e.  Regarding  the 
"nn^n  nao  (i.  e.  the  second  chapter  of  Saadia's  Kitah  al- 
'Amdndt),  mentioned  there  by  Steinschneider,  see  especially 
Poznanski,  JQR.,  VIII,  691.  The  polemical  work  under  con- 
sideration is  mentioned  also  in  two  old  book-lists  from  the 
Genizah  (12th  century),  printed  in  Schechter's  Saadyana, 
no.  xxxvii  (p.  79,  line  16;  comp.  Poznanski,  Schechter's 
Saadyana,  p.  23,  no.  24),  and  in  JQR.,  XIII,  54,  no.  59; 
p.  327,  no.  59.  The  enigmatic  word  DITi,  which  occurs  as 
part  of  the  title  in  one  of  the  sources  (Nissim  b.  Jacob),  is 
perhaps  the  mutilated  name  of  the  Karaite  against  whom 
the  work  was  written.  That  it  was  Ibn  Sakawaihi  is  only  a 
conjecture.  In  the  aforementioned  lists,  the  word  is  omitted  ; 
comp.  Hirschf  eld,  JQR.,  XVIII,  113,  n.  i  ;  see  also  Eppen- 
stein,  Beitrdge,  p.  109,  n.  4.  For  refutations  of  the  Karaites 
Ben  Zuta  and  Daniel  b.  Moses  al-Kumisi,  supposed  to  have 
been  written  by  Saadia,  see  below.  Bibliography,  section 
VII,  p.  398,  nos.  9,  10. 

5.  Kitdb  al-Radd  'aid  Hayazvaihi  al-Balhi  (^^y  in^t<  nXJiD 
••i^D^X  r)]\\r\),  "Refutation  of  Hayawaihi    {vulgo  Hiwi)* 

*  The  proper  pronunciation  of  the  name  is,  as  suggested  by  Poz- 
nanski, ''b^nn  Tn,  p.  6,  n.  3,  Hayawaihi  (or  Haiwaihi),  which 
agrees  with  the  spelling  IT' IT!  in  the  St.  Petersburg  MS.  of  the  Kitdb 
al-Amandt    (Landauer,   p.   2>7)    and   in   Kirkisani's   Kitdb   al- Anwar 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  VI— POLEMICS  385 

of  Balkh  "  (Persia).  Under  this  title  the  work  is  referred 
to  by  Saadia  himself  in  his  Kitab  al-Amdndt,  p.  37,  1.  6 
{Emunot,  ed.  Slucki,  p.  20).  Saadia  mentions  the  work 
also  in  the  M^3n  nQD,  ed.  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  177,  and  in 
his  Polemic  against  Ibn  Sakawaihi  (not  in  theT^''»n^X  nXDD, 
as  Davidson  (see  below),  pp.  14,  82,  following  Graetz,  has 
it),  in  the  passage  reproduced  from  it  by  Judah  b.  Barzillai, 
nn^^*"  nS)D  tJ^nD,  p.  21  (see  above,  p.  383,  letter  d).  In  this 
passage  one  stanza  of  Saadia's  original  text  is  preserved, 
which  makes  it  evident  that  the  work  was  written  in  Hebrew 
and  in  rhymed  prose.  Various  mediaeval  authors,  both 
among  the  Karaites  and  the  Rabbanites,  refer  to  Hiwi  as  a 
heretic,  some  of  the  latter  pointing  out  the  fact  that  Saadia 
refuted  his  heresies;  thus,  the  anonymous  author  of  the 
Kitab  ma  dm  al-nafs  (12th  century)  ed.  Goldziher,  BerHn, 
1907,  p.  16,  11.  20-24 ;  Abraham  Ibn  Daud,  n^npn  niD,  ed. 
Neubauer,  p.  66';  Simon  Duran  (15th  c.),nnx  po,  Leghorn, 
1785,  fol.  31a;  Saadia  Ibn  Danan  (15th  c),  HTIJ;!  mon,  ed. 
Edelmann,  Konigsberg,  1856,  pp.  i6a,  2^b,  and  others.  In 
more  recent  times  (since  the  appearance  in  the  V'^n^n,  1829, 
of  the  Biography  of  Saadia  by  Rapoport,  who  first  took  up 
the  matter)  the  question  of  Hiwi's  personality  and  writings, 
as  well  as  of  the  nature  of  Saadia's  polemic  against  him, 
has  been  the  subject  of  minute  study  and  investigation. 
Among  other  things  it  was  pointed  out  in  particular  that 
numerous  passages  in  Saadia's  main  philosophic  work,  the 
Kitdb  al-Amdndt,  in  which  he  argues  against  an  unnamed 
opponent,  were  directed  against  Hiwi ;  see  Graetz,  Gcschichtc 
(4),  V,  Note  20,  pp.  533  f.  (Hebrew  edition,  III,  473  f.)  ; 
especially  the  extensive  article  of  Guttmann,  MOW  J.,  1879, 

(Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  p.  147,  n.  2).  This  pronunciation  is  supported 
also  by  three  MSS.  of  Ibn  Tibbon's  translation  (Parma  and  the 
Vatican)  of  which  I  possess  copies  and  in  which  the  name  is  vocal- 
ized M^n  (omitting  the  H).  The  usual  pronunciation  Hiwi  or 
Hiwwi  (Bacher;  see  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  65,  n.  12}'  is  based 
on  a  wrong  analogy  to  the  Biblical  name  of  a  Cananite  tribe 
(Gen.,  10,  17).  The  proper  analogy  is  the  Persian  name  Tatnai 
(Ezra,  5,  3). 

25 


386  SAADIA  GAON 

pp.  260-270,  289-300.  An  exhaustive  study  of  the  subject 
was  pubHshed  by  Poznanski  under  the  title  ^D^nn  "•rn,  Ber- 
dyczew,  1908  (reprint  from  n:in,  VII,  1 12-137),  in  which 
all  the  material  then  available  was  collected  and  presented  in 
a  clear  and  systematic  way. 

Of  the  text  of  Saadia's  polemic  against  Hiwi  nothing  was 
known  until  recently  except  the  stanza  of  four  rhymes  pre- 
served by  Judah  b.  Barzillai.  It  was  therefore  of  great 
interest  to  the  scholarly  world  that  a  considerable  portion 
of  this  work  was  lately  discovered  by  Israel  Davidson  among 
the  Genizah  fragments  in  the  Cambridge  University  Library, 
containing  73  stanzas  of  four  rhymes  each,  about  one-sixth 
of  the  whole  work,  which,  as  Davidson,  p.  34,  shows,  con- 
sisted of  about  460  stanzas.  Davidson  edited  the  fragment 
with  an  English  translation  and  explanatory  notes  under  the 
title  Saadia's  Polemic  against  Hiwi  Al-Balkhi,  New  York, 
191 5  (vol.  V  of  Texts  and  Studies  of  the  Jewish  Theological 
Seminary  of  America).  In  a  lucid  introduction  the  editor 
briefly  reviews  the  literature  of  the  subject,  gives  a  minute 
analysis  and  appreciation  of  the  contents  of  the  recovered 
text,  and  brings  out  the  points  that  are  of  either  literary  or 
historical  interest.  Towards  the  end  of  the  volume  he  repro- 
duces all  the  passages  relating  to  Hiwi  in  the  works  of  Saadia 
(numbering  altogether  15),  as  well  as  all  the  passages  occur- 
ring in  the  Arabic  and  Hebrew  works  of  other  mediaeval  au- 
thors, so  that  we  have  here  the  entire  material  bearing  on 
Saadia's  polemic  against  Hiwi  (comp.  Gaster,  Journal  of  the 
Royal  Asiatic  Society,  191 5,  pp.  575-577;  Poznanski,  ZfhB. 
XIX,  2-8).  Davidson's  edition  was  made  use  of  by  Poz- 
nanski. who  has  reedited  the  whole  with  Hebrew  notes  under 
the  title,  *'3^nn  >rn  DI^XK^  ^y  y'O-^  nnitJ^n.  Warsaw,  1916 
(see  ZfhB.  XX,  52  f.). 

Of  Hiwi's  writings  nothing  has  thus  far  become  known. 
In  1 90 1  a  rem.arkable  Genizah  fragment  of  twelve  pages  in 
Hebrew  verse  was  published  in  the  JQR.,  XIII,  345-374,  by 
Schechter  who  thinks  that  it  emanated  from  the  school  of 
Hiwi.  The  fragment  contains  very  vigorous  attacks  on  the 
Bible  and  was  later  made  the  subject  of  minute  study  by 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  VI— POLEMICS  z^7 

Backer  UQR.,  XIII,  741-745),  Poznanski  {ib.,  746-748), 
Porges  {ib.,  XIV,  129-133),  Seligsohn  {RE J.,  XLVI,  99- 
122),  who  also  translated  it  into  French,  and  David  Kohn 
(n:in,  V,  5-42),  who  re-edited  it  with  vowel-points  and  addi- 
tional notes  (comp.  Poznanski,  ZfhB.,  X,  6^).  Opinion  on 
the  identity  of  the  author  and  the  specific  object  of  his  work 
is  still  divided  ;  comp.  Poznanski,  ""D^nn  MTl,  p.  27-30;  Stein- 
Schneider,  AL.,  p.  65,  n.  12,  where  for  "  XIL,  329  "  (line  31) 
read :  XIV,  129. 

In  an  ancient  book-list  coming  from  the  Genizah  a  ''in  nxriS 
••3^3  is  mentioned  {JQR.,  XIII,  54,  no.  71),  which  in  all 
probability  refers  to  Hiwi's  work  containing  the  200  objec- 
tions to  the  Bible,  or  to  some  other  work  of  his.  Poznanski, 
JQR.,  XIII,  329,  no.  71,  thinks  that  Saadia's  polemic  against 
Hiwi  is  here  meant,  which  is  quite  improbable,  as  in  this 
case  the  v\^ord  Radd=  Refutation,  which  is  the  main  part  of 
the  title,  could  hardly  have  been  omitted  by  the  cataloguer. 

6.  Sefer  ha-Gakii  {^)'?^n  ISD),  Arabic  al-Kitdb  al-Tdrid 
("n«tD^X  nfc^DD^X),  usually  translated  "  Book  of  the  Exiled 
One  "  (see  below^).  The  first  intimation  of  the  existence  of 
parts  of  this  work,  which  had  been  known  only  from  two 
quotations  in  the  works  of  xA^braham  b.  Hiyya  (inyn  1SD 
ed.  Filipofski,  p.  x)  and  Abraham  Ibn  Daud  (n^npn  "IID, 
ed.  Neubauer,  I,  66),  came,  as  in  the  case  of  the  \)l^i^  (see 
above,  p.  306),  from  the  Karaite  Abraham  Firkovich,  who 
discovered  the  MS.  in  1864  in  Egypt,  and  in  an  article  in  the 
weekly  T^^on,  1868,  nos.  26,  27  (also  separately  under  the 
title  nioi  nimpn^  xno  etc.,  Odessa,  1868)  gave  some  in- 
formation as  to  its  contents  (comp.  Geiger,  Jiidische  Zeit- 
schrift,  X,  262 ;  XI,  155) .  Three  years  later,  part  of  the  text 
appeared  in  Hebrew  translation  in  the  monthly  periodical 
^DIDH,  1 87 1 -1872,  pp.  63-68.  In  1 891  the  fragments  which 
were  brought  by  Firkovich  and  acquired  by  the  St.  Peters- 
burg Imperial  Library,  were  critically  edited  by  Harkavy, 
who  added  a  literal  Hebrew  translation,  copious  notes,  and 
an  exhaustive  Introduction,  in  which  all  the  historical  and 
philological  data  relating  to  the  work,  as  well  as  some  im- 
portant  additional    material,    which   he    discovered    subse- 


388  SAADIA  GAON 

quently,  were  minutely  discussed.  Harkavy's  monograph  on 
the  Scfer  ha-Galui  forms  the  second  part  of  his  Zikvon,  vol. 
V,  Berlin,  1891,  pp.  133-235  :  see  the  reviews  of  this  work  by 
Bacher,  Expository  Times,  XI  (1899-1900),  454-458;  REJ., 
XXIV,  307-318,  XXV,  143  f.;  Porg-es,  ih.,  XXV,  144-151, 
and  Neubauer,  JQR.,  IV,  490-494.  The  pubHcation  of  Har- 
kavy  has  aroused  considerable  controversy  among  scholars. 
At  first  the  meaning  and  correctness  of  both  the  Hebrew  and 
the  Arabic  title  were  doubted.  It  was  pointed  out  that  the 
Hebrew  gahii  does  not  mean  "  exiled,"  but  "  open,"  "  mani- 
fest ;  "  while  the  Arabic  tarid  can  only  mean  "  one  who  exiles, 
banishes  others,"  but  not  one  who  is  himself  exiled.  Neu- 
bauer {JQR.,  IV,  492)  proposed  to  retain  the  meaning 
''  open  "  for  the  Hebrew  and  to  read  in  x^rabic  correspond- 
ingly 'nnx6.  Others  proposed  the  reading  gillui,  "manifes- 
tation," and  this  reading  is  still  maintained  by  Eppenstein 
in  his  recent  Beitrdge,  p.  129  (""  Das  Buck  der  offenen  Wider- 
legung '')  ;  see,  however,  Harkavy,  /.  c,  pp.  142,  180,  n.  7, 
especially  JQR.,  XII,  550,  where  he  defends  the  meaning 
''  exiled,"  and  suggests  the  change  of  the  Arabic  "lISD  into 
the  passive  form  T^D,  or  I'ltp,  admitting  the  possibility  that 
the  Hebrew  title  contains  an  allusion  to  Jeremiah,  32,  14,  in 
the  sense  of  an  ''  Open  Book."  The  question  regarding  the 
title  becomes  still  more  complicated  by  the  fact  that  R.  ]\Iu- 
bashshir,  a  contemporary  of  Saadia,  refers  to  the  work  by  the 
title  Kitdh  al-I'tibdr  (nxnnyN^«  nXDD;  Harkavy  /.  c,  182), 
which  means  "  Book  of  Taking  Example,"  i.  e.  an  admonition 
to  the  reader  to  derive  moral  lessons  from  the  author's  expe- 
riences as  described  in  his  work.  This  difficulty  can  be  dis- 
posed of,  however,  by  assuming  that  Mubashshir  did  not 
quote  the  real  title  of  the  book,  but  referred  to  it  in  a  general 
descriptive  way.  His  paraphrase  does,  indeed,  cover  the 
contents  of  the  book.  The  reason  given  by  Harkavy  (/.  c,  p. 
182,  n.  2)  for  this  form  of  R.  Mubashshir's  quotation  is  far 
fetched  and  the  interpretation  of  N'eubauer  (JQR.,  IV,  492) 
inadequate;  comp.  Steinschneider,  AI^.,  p.  68,  n.  45.  Har- 
kavy's view  (p.  146,  followed  by  Eppenstein  in  his  notes  to 
Graetz,  Geschichte,  V,  531,  n.  i)  that  the  title  5'XriCK^«  nXDD 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  VI— POLEMICS  389 

quoted  by  the  Muhammedan  author  Ibn  al-Nadim  (who  wrote 
in  987)  as  a  work  by  Saadia  divided  into  ten  chapters,  refers 
to  the  work  under  consideration,  is  altogether  improbable, 
since  the  latter,  contrary  to  the  assertion  of  Harkavy 
and  Eppenstein,  contains  only  seven  chapters  (see  Bacher, 
JQR.,  XII,  704;  JE.,  X,  585;  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  68, 
n.  45).      ^KhDX  is  merely  a  mistake  for  nXJX^i<. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  none  of  the  explanations  is  satis- 
factory. Aside  from  the  linguistic  difficulties,  it  would  be 
strange  if  Saadia,  contrary  to  his  wont,  should  have  desig- 
nated an  important  writing  by  a  title  which  contains  merely  a 
personal  allusion  (i.  e.,  to  his  exile),  but  does  not  indicate  in 
the  least  the  contents  of  the  work.  Moreover,  if  we  consider 
the  whole  verse  in  which  the  title  occurs,  it  becomes  obvious 
that  the  meaning  exiled  for  galui,  which  is  gained  only  by 
making  the  latter  an  artificial  substitute  for  goleh,  is  unten- 
able. The  verse  reads:  j-IDm  r\\^^  D1D3n  n^:in  nSD  nm 
n^'1«  Dn  mnv  nox  noiD.  The  words  DIDD  (Deuter.,  32, 
34)  and  lion  (Isaiah,  23,  16)  which  mean  hidden,  treasured, 
are  clearly  intended  as  a  contrast  to  galui  — open,  visible,  the 
author  wishing  to  say  "  this  is  the  '  Open  Book '  (Jeremiah, 
32,  14),  which  contains  hidden  moral  lessons  and  stored  up 
ethics;  words  of  rhetoric  are  its  treasure"  (nj^?*l,  Ez.,  28, 
17,  is  rendered  in  the  immediately  following  Arabic  verse  by 
n^nnyt?,  as  quoted  by  Mubashshir  (see  above,  p.  388),  so  that 
\]\^1  receives  the  meaning  of  learning,  that  is,  beholding  the 
truth;  nvii<  is  also  suggestive  of  Til^ixn,  Deuter.,  ib.).  We 
know  from  Saadia's  general  Introduction  to  the  work  that 
these  were,  indeed,  its  main  characteristics  ;  see  Malter,  JQR., 
N.  S.,  vol.  Ill  (1912-1913),  pp.  489-495.  The  meaning  ex- 
iled suggested  itself  only  by  the  incidental  fact  that  the  work 
was  written  during  Saadia's  retirement,  and  then  the  Arabic 
tdrid  was  likewise  given  this  unwarranted  meaning.  How- 
ever, "nXD^X  3«nD^«,  with  the  double  article,  which  in  the 
meaning  "  Book  of  the  Exiled  "  is  grammatically  impossible, 
is  not  at  all  a  translation  of  ^I^^H  "IDD,  but,  as  suggested 
by  Bacher  {Expository  Times,Xl,  454-458,  and  REJ.,XXIV, 
313;  comp.  Porges,  ib.,  XXV,  150),  means  merely  "The 


390  SAADIA  GAON 

Book  that  Refutes  "  and  is  used  by  Saadia  as  a  descriptive 
title  to  designate  the  aim  and  purpose  of  the  work.  It  ex- 
presses the  same  thought  as  *'  Kitab  al-Radd,"  which  is  the 
usual  title  of  Saadia's  polemical  writings.  It  is  true,  all 
other  words  in  this  Arabic  line  are  a  verbal  translation  of 
the  corresponding  Hebrew;  but  the  words  M^:!!!  12D,  being 
bodily  taken  over  as  a  technical  title  from  Jeremiah,  did 
not  require  any  special  translation,  and  the  author  replaced 
them  by  two  words  which,  for  the  Arabic  reader,  better  indi- 
cate the  character  and  content  of  the  work. 

Of  far  greater  importance  than  the  question  of  the  title 
seemed  for  a  time  the  literary  controversy  that  arose  about 
the  origin  and  genuineness  of  the  fragment.  Some  time  after 
the  appearance  of  Harkavy's  work,  Professor  D.  S.  Margo- 
liouth  came  out  with  an  ingenious  article  {]QR.,  XII  (1900), 
502-532),  in  which  he  endeavored  to  prove  with  much  detail 
and  acumen  that  the  fragment  is  no  fragment  at  all,  but  a  fab- 
rication by  some  Karaite,  composed  after  the  year  962,  and  in- 
tended to  serve  as  a  lampoon  directed  against  Saadia,  satir- 
ically imitating  and  parodying  the  latter's  philological  method 
and  style,  and  inserting  some  of  Saadia's  opinions  (see  ih., 
p.  532).  The  article  called  forth  rejoinders  by  Harkavy  {ih., 
PP-  532-554)  and  Bacher  {ih.,  pp.  703-705),  which  were 
followed  by  a  reply  by  Margoliouth  and  another  "  Rejoin- 
der ■'  by  Harkavy  {ih.,  pp.  705-707 ;  the  same  controversy 
was  carried  on  between  Margoliouth  and  Bacher  in  the 
Expository  Times,  XI  (1900),  46,  92,  192,  287,  521,  563). 
Once  more  Margoliouth  tried  to  defend  his  theory  {JQR., 
XIII,  155-158),  but  it  found  no  acceptance  among  scholars. 
To-day,  after  the  genuineness  of  the  Sefer  ha-Galui  has 
been  positively  established  by  additional  MS.  material, 
readers  of  Professor  Margoliouth's  articles  may  still  admire 
the  ingenuity  and  art  with  which  he  succeeded  in  making  an 
entirely  groundless  theory  appear  tenable,  but  they  will 
otherwise  dismiss  the  whole  matter  as  a  curious  literary 
episode  in  the  history  of  our  work. 

As  already  noted,  the  Sefer  ha-Galui  was  written  in  He- 
brew and  about  three  years  later  an  Arabic  translation  and 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  VI— POLEMICS  39i 

commentary,  with  an  introduction,  were  added  thereto  by 
the  author,  who  describes  this  work  as  "  The  Book  that 
Refutes."  There  is  no  sufficient  proof  that  the  Arabic  text 
was  accompanied  by  a  second  enlarged  edition  of  the  original 
Hebrew  text,  as  has  been  repeatedly  asserted ;  though  this 
may  well  have  been  so,  as  was  the  case  with  other  writings 
of  Saadia.  At  any  rate  the  Arabic  was  not  merely  a 
repetition  of  the  Hebrew  content  by  way  of  transla- 
tion, as  hitherto  assumed,  but  a  new  work,  which,  aside 
from  the  literal  translation  and  the  interpretation  of  the 
difficult  rhetorical  text  of  the  Sefer  ha-Galui,  contained 
much  additional  material  of  a  controversial  character  (see 
below,  p.  392,  under  h,  c).  Both  texts  must  have  circulated 
separately  as  well,  for  among  the  fragments  we  possess  there 
are  some  that  contain  the  Hebrew  or  the  Arabic  only,  while 
others  have  both  side  by  side.  This  is  also  obvious  from 
two  ancient  book-Hsts,  that  come  from  the  Genizah,  the  one 
of  which  records  the  "  Sefer  ha-Galui  "  (Schechter,  Saady- 
ana,  p.  79),  the  other  the  '' Taf  sir  Sefer  ha-Galui"  (JQR., 
Xni,  55,  no.  yy ;  comp.  Lambert,  REJ.,  XL,  260) .  The 
latter  refers  to  the  Arabic  text,  Saadia  using  the  word  tafsir 
ahke  for  translation  and  commentary;  comp.  Harkavy,  p. 
146,  n.  6,  and  above,  note  308.  For  the  suggested  identifi- 
cation of  the  Sefer  ha-Gahti  with  a  Kitab  al-Koshf  see  below, 
section  VH,  p.  402,  no.  15. 

To  afiford  a  better  survey  of  the  existing  material  I  shall 
here  arrange  the  Hebrew  and  Arabic  fragments  in  two  sep- 
arate sections  following  in  each  group  the  order  of  pub- 
lication. 

A.    HEBREW 

a)  Four  pages  (18  lines  each)  the  first  two  of  which 
represent  the  initial  portion  of  the  work,  while  the  other 
two  probably  belong  to  the  third  chapter.  The  two  frag- 
ments were  edited  together  by  Schechter  {JQR.,  XIV,  37  f¥., 
reprinted  in  his  Saadyana,  pp.  4-7),  who  by  way  of  intro- 
duction gives  also  a  clear  analysis  of  their  contents.  The 
first  four  lines  of  the  first  fragment  {Saadyana,  p.  4)  had 


392  SAADIA  GAON 

been  previously  published  by  Schechter  from  another  Geni- 
zah  MS.  with  some  variations  (JQR.,  XII,  460). 

b)  A  fragment  consisting  of  two  pages  (19  lines  each). 
The  text  is  divided  into  verses  and  provided  with  vowel- 
points  and  accents  like  the  books  of  the  Bible.  It  was 
recently  published  with  a  French  translation  and  notes  by 
B.  Chapira,  RE  J.,  LXVIII  (1914),  3-8.  In  his  introductory 
remarks  Qiapira  still  repeats  the  erroneous  view  of 
Harkavy  that  the  Sefer  ha-Gahii  consisted  of  ten  chapters 
three  of  which,  he  conjectures,  were  subsequently  omitted 
by  the  Gaon.  This  theory  was  refuted  by  Bacher  long  ago 
(REJ.,  XXIV,  314)  ;  see  above,  pp.  270  f .,  and  Maker,  JQR., 
N.  S.,  vol.  Ill  (1912-1913).  p.  492,  nn.  20,  26. 

B.    ARABIC 

a)  A  fragment  covering  sixteen  pages  (22-23  lines  each), 
edited  by  Harkavy  with  an  elaborate  introduction,  Hebrew 
translation,  and  copious  notes  (Zikron,  V,  150- 181).  It  con- 
tains nearly  the  whole  Introduction  of  Saadia  (lacking  only 
a  few  lines  of  the  beginning)  and  the  first  three  Hebrew 
verses  of  the  work  itself.  The  first  verse  is  followed  by  the 
Arabic  translation,  which  is  missing  in  the  same  portion 
published  by  Schechter  from  another  Genizah  fragment  (see 
above,  under  Hebrew,  letter  a). 

Another  fragment  of  the  same  Introduction  (four  pages 
of  18  lines  each)  was  published  by  Malter  (from  a  MS.  be- 
longing to  Dr.  Cyrus  Adler  in  the  Library  of  the  Dropsie 
College  in  Philadelphia)  with  an  English  translation  and 
notes  in  the  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  Ill  (1912-1913),  pp.  487-499. 
The  text  agrees  on  the  whole  with  that  published  by  Harkavy 
(pp.  151,  1.  16-158,  1.  i),  but  offers  numerous,  partly  impor- 
tant, variants  and  also  supplements  some  gaps  in  the  text  of 
Harkavy.  For  still  another  fragment  of  the  Introduction, 
agreeing  with  Harkavy,  p.  169,  1.  15;  p.  173,  1.  12,  see  B. 
Chapira,  REJ.,  LXVIII,  2. 

b)  Two  leaves  (four  pages,  16-17  ^^^les  each),  represent- 
ing two  different  parts  of  the  Arabic  version,  but  edited  as  one 
by  Harkavy  (pp.  i87-;i93),  who  calls  attention,  however,  to 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  VI— POLEMICS  393 

the  gap  between  the  two  leaves.  Like  the  preceding  frag- 
ment, this  is  translated  by  the  editor  into  Hebrew  and  ac- 
companied by  explanatory  notes.  Both  fragments  contain 
a  denmiciation  of  David  ben  Zakkai  and  a  reply  to  the  criti- 
cism of  the  Sefer  ha-Galui  in  its  first  edition;  see  above, 
pp.  390  f . 

c)  Two  leaves  ( four  pages,  13  lines  each) ,  likewise  belong- 
ing to  two  different  parts  of  the  work,  edited  with  a  French 
translation  by  M.  Lambert,  REJ.,  XL,  84-86,  260.  It  is 
important  to  note  that  the  first  leaf  of  this  fragment  corre- 
sponds to  the  Hebrew  text  in  Schechter's  Saadyana,  p.  6,  leaf 
2  verso,  lines  10  ff. ;  for  here  we  see  clearly  the  relation  of 
the  two  texts  to  one  another,  namely,  that  the  Arabic  work 
contained  besides  the  translation  also  a  commentary  on  the 
Hebrew.  The  author  quotes  one  or  two  catchwords  from 
the  Hebrew  text  to  indicate  the  verse  or  paragraph  of  the 
Sefer  ha-Galui,  which  he  is  about  to  explain,  and  then  com- 
ments upon  the  passage  freely.  It  is  furthermore  to  be  noted 
that  the  larger  part  of  the  second  leaf  is  identical  with 
fragment  h  published  by  Harkavy  (187,  lines  1-12),  so  that 
the  latter  is  a  continuation  of  the  text  edited  by  Lambert. 
In  this  continuation  we  see  the  author  interrupting  his  inter- 
pretation of  the  Hebrew  text  and  suddenly  beginning  to 
defend  its  style  and  grammar  against  the  objections  made  by 
his  opponents.  This,  of  course,  could  not  have  formed  part 
of  the  original  Sefer  ha-Galui.  It  is  thus  clear  beyond  a 
doubt  that  the  Arabic  al-Kitab  al-Tarid,  was  not  merely  a 
translation  of  the  Sefer  ha-Galui,  but  an  independent  and 
more  comprehensive  polemical  work,  the  purpose  of  which 
was  to  translate  the  original  Hebrew  text,  to  explain  the 
obscure  passages  occurring  therein,  and  more  particularly 
to  refute  the  attacks  made  upon  it  by  its  detractors. 

d)  Two  fragments,  four  pages  each  (18-20  lines  to  the 
page),  were  recently  discovered  in  Cairo  by  Bernard  Cha- 
pira,  who  published  them  with  a  French  translation  in  the 
REJ.,  LXVIII  (1914),  9-14.  In  these  two  fragments  each 
Hebrew  verse  is  followed  by  a  literal  Arabic  translation,  thus 
evidently  belonq-ins:  to  the  Arabic  edition  of  the  work.    Both 


394  SAADIA  GAON 

seem  to  have  formed  part  of  the  sixth  chapter,  but  the  text, 
especially  of  the  second  fragment,  is  so  badly  mutilated  that 
nothing  definite  can  be  said  about  the  contents.  We  receive 
here  the  interesting  information  that  the  two  opposing  par- 
ties were  designated  by  "  right  "  (Saadia  and  his  followers; 
and  "left"  (the  Exilarch,  Sarjadah,  etc.)  ;  see  Chapira,  ib., 
pp.  2,  7,  n.  3;  II,  11.  2-4;  B.  Lewin,  n«:  xnnti^  3"1,  Jaffa, 
1 916,  p.  2.  To  these  fragments  of  the  Sefer  ha-Gahii  itself 
may  be  added : 

e)  A  fragment  (43  lines)  of  a  work  of  R.  Mubashshir,  in 
which  the  author  criticizes  certain  portions  of  Saadia's  Kitdb 
al-Ttibar  (see  above,  p.  388),  quoting  the  text  of  the  latter, 
as  it  seems,  literally  (published  by  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  183- 
185).  From  the  contents  it  appears  that  he  quotes  from 
al-Kitdb  al-Tdrid  and  not  from  the  Sefer  ha-Galui,  for  Saadia 
defends  certain  Hebrew  expressions  he  used  in  the  latter, 
to  which  Mubashshir  objects.  Moreover,  it  is  not  probable 
that  Mubashshir  would  have  quoted  the  Hebrew  original 
in  Arabic  translation.  The  title,  however,  under  which 
he  quotes  the  work,  may  refer  to  both  texts  as  a  whole. 
For  two  other  quotations  from  the  work  under  consideration 
see  Harkavy,  pp.  196  f¥. 

For  completeness'  sake  it  should  be  noted  that  the  text 
published  by  Harkavy  was  translated  into  Hebrew  by  Sam- 
uel Firkovich,  a  grandson  of  Abraham  Firkovich,  who  sent 
the  MS.  of  his  translation  to  H.  J.  Gurland  of  Odessa.  The 
latter  placed  it  at  the  disposal  of  David  Kohn  (Kahana), 
who  pubHshed  it  in  the  nnSDH  nV1^?,  IV  (1892),  318  ff.,  also 
separately  under  the  awkward  title  /'D*i  nn^in^  12D,  Cra- 
cow, 1892,  pp.  27  ff.  He  suppressed  the  name  of  the  trans- 
lator; see  his  note  at  the  beginning  of  the  translation ;  Har- 
kavy, p.  149,  n.  2,  and  above,  p.  306  under  'Agron. 

VII.  WORKS  OF  UNCERTAIN  DESCRIPTION 

Under  this  heading  I  propose  to  bring  together  a  number 

of  writings  which,  with  only  one  or  two  exceptions   (see 

nos.  2  and  3),  are  explicitly  quoted  in  trustworthy  sources  as 

the  products  of  the  Gaon,  so  that  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  VII— UNCERTAIN  DESCRIPTION    395 

their  genuineness.  The  difficulty  is  that  the  titles  under 
which  they  are  quoted,  or,  as  the  case  may  be,  the  general 
terms  in  which  they  are  referred  to,  leave  it  open  to  doubt 
whether  the  reference  is  to  separate  works  of  Saadia,  which, 
like  other  of  his  writings,  were  subsequently  lost,  or  to  some 
parts  or  chapters  of  more  comprehensive  books  which 
have  been  dealt  with  above  under  the  various  headings 
of  Saadia's  literary  activity.  We  know  from  other  instances 
that  Saadia  himself,  after  issuing  short  monographs  on  given 
subjects,  later  combined  them  into  one  volume  with  a  differ- 
ent, more  general  title,  and  that  on  the  other  hand  he  some- 
times made  excerpts  from  his  larger  works  and,  issued  them 
as  monographs  (see  above,  pp.  194,  267).  There  is  also 
sufficient  evidence  that  later  readers,  who  found  some  of 
Saadia's  works  too  extensive  and  were  interested  only  in 
particular  sections,  likewise  made  various  excerpts  for  them- 
selves and  that  these  circulated  as  separate  writings  (see 
below,  no.  2).  It  is  therefore  unsafe  to  conclude  from  the 
occurrence  of  such  titles  or  references  that  there  existed  the 
same  number  of  separate  and  original  works  of  Saadia.  In 
many  instances  they  probably  designate  parts  of  works  which 
are  otherwise  known  by  some  general  title.  Nor  is  the  mate- 
rial at  hand  sufficient  to  enable  us  to  ascertain  in  each  case 
whether  we  have  before  us  a  reference  to  an  otherwise  un- 
known work  or  merely  a  new  title.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
some  of  the  writings  which  were  enumerated  above  as  sep- 
arate works  may  well  belong  here.  I  shall  indicate  them  by 
a  mere  repetition  of  the  titles  and  cross-references. 

PHILOLOGY  AND  EXEGESIS 

I.  nnyo  n*i  TiP^,  a  grammatical  work  on  Punctuation  is 
quoted  by  Rashi,  Commentary  on  Psalms,  45,  10,  but  accord- 
ing to  Berliner  (see  Steinschneider,  Vorlcsungen  iiber  die 
Kunde  hebraischer  Handschriften,  Leipzig,  1897,  p.  15)  the 
passage  is  a  later  interpolation.  Bacher  {Die  Anfdnge  der 
hebrdischen  Grammaiik,  Leipzig,  1895,  p.  60,  n.  2),  on  the 
other  hand,  thinks  that  it  formed  the  sixth  chapter  of  the 


396  SAADIA  GAON 

Kutitb  al-Lugah,  which  chapter  was  called  by  Saadia  ni^DD 
■•an^XI  ^n'?i^  ;  comp.  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  62,  no.  23 ;  see 
also  above,  note  303. 

2.  n^DDt^^DH  n^Xl  TtDDn,  Interpretation  of  the  Section 
Mishpatim  (Exodus,  21-24),  mentioned  in  a  book-list  from 
the  Genizah,  Schechter,  Saadyana,  p.  79  (no.  xxxvii).  The 
name  of  the  author  is  not  given  there,  but  in  all  probability 
it  is  the  treatise  mentioned  by  Isaac  Gaon,  a  preacher 
of  the  13th  century  (see  Steinschneider,  AL.,  §  168)  quoted 
by  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2185,  who  remarks  that  various  parts 
of  Saadia's  commentaries  on  the  Bible  must  have  existed 
as  separate  treatises  with  special  introductions.  Isaac  Gaon 
indeed  quotes  D"'tDDtJ'Dn  n^«1  ^''DDn  TTV,  that  is.  Introduc- 
tion to  the  Commentary  on  Mishpatim;  comp.  Bacher, 
Abraham  Ibn  Esra's  Einleitung  mi  seineni  PentatencJi- 
Commcntar,  p.  20,  n.  2  [comp.  below,  p.  427]. 

3.  niD  nnj<  ^i^DGD,  Interpretation  of  the  Section  Ahare 
Mot  (Leviticus,  16-18),  mentioned  in  the  list  referred  to 
under  no.  2.  Here  again  no  author  is  named,  but  in  the  same 
list  several  other  books  are  mentioned  without  the  name  of 
Saadia,  though  his  authorship  of  these  books  is  definitely 
estaijlished.  Thus  we  find  the  Sefer  ha-Galni,  the  Kitdh  al- 
Ta'rih  (see  above,  pp.  353  f.),  and  at  least  five  other  works 
of  Saadia  mentioned  anonymously.  The  compiler  of  the 
list  probably  gave  the  name  of  Saadia  whenever  it  was  found 
in  the  MSS.  he  catalogued;  where  he  did  not  add  the  name 
it  may  have  been  missing  also  in  his  MSS.  For  another 
explanation  see  below,  p.  407.  There  is  also  a  strong 
probability  that  this  Tafsir  is  identical  with  the  rW^V  *1SD 
which  was  discussed  above,  p.  346,  no.  4.  It  should  be  added 
that  nos.  2  and  3  are  mentioned  together  in  the  same  line 
[see  also  below,  Postscript,  p.  427]. 

HALAKAH 

4.  JlDM  ^)y1nti^  Treatise  on  the  Oath  of  Inducement, 
referred  to  by  Isaac  b.  Reuben  of  Barcelona  (nth  century) 
at  the  end  of  the  third  chapter  of  his  r))V)2^  ny^i^  (see 
Steinschneider,  CB.,  2161).    The  anonymous  Arabic  Genizah 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  VII— UNCERTAIN  DESCRIPTION    397 

fragment  (Neubauer  and  Cowley,  Catalogue,  II,  no.  2643, 
opus  22i)  which  deals  with  the  same  subject  is  perhaps  part 
of  the  treatise  in  question,  as  suggested  by  Cowley,  /.  c. 

5.  mJ  ni3^n    see  above,  Bibliography,  pp.  348  f .,  nos.  7,  10. 

6.  Tafsir  al-Arayof,  see  above,  p.  346;  396,  no.  3.  For 
a  treatise  on  charity  (  DPI V  mD^H)  see  note  369.  For  T'DDfi 
m^i^^D  nnt<  see  note  366.  A  p^Gn  nn^n  by  Saadia  is 
said  to  have  recently  been  discovered  and  published  by 
S.  A.  Wertheimer,  Jerusalem. 

CHRONOLOGY 

7.  Seder  Tannaim  we-Amoraim,  see  above,  notes  357,  395, 
and  Bibliography,  p.  354,  no.  2.  For  the  ''  Four  Gates  " 
(DnytJ^  nynn«)  see  above,  p.  169,  no.  2. 

PHILOSOPHY 

8.  Hadd  al-Insdn  (IXDJX^X  nn),  "Definition  of  Man." 
I  insert  this  work  here  (though  it  does  not  strictly  belong  to 
the  class  of  writings  here  enumerated)  as  the  authorship  of 
Saadia  is  not  fully  established.  A  MS.  in  the  Royal  Library 
of  Berlin  (see  Steinschneider,  Verzeichnis  der  hebrdischen 
Handschriften  der  koniglichen  Bibliothek  zii  Berlin,  I,  p.  48, 
no.  y2,  *)  contains  an  anonymous  Hebrew  translation  of  the 
first  chapter  of  the  work  in  question,  which  is  explicitly 
attributed  to  Saadia,  the  opening  lines  reading:  xnnn  mrvn 
tj^Nn  nnyo  ^ni  ^'^^^^  i^dd  i«d:i«^«  nn  \^^^  neon  nt  ^wix 
D^D::nn  nsD^  icon  nt  nn^n  v":^  rrnycTuni  ....  v"^  ht^ 
n^lV^  'nn  in*i«  IP^m ;  see  the  rest  of  the  quotation  in  Stein- 
schneider's  HB.,  X,  25.  Kaufmann  {Die  Sinne,  p.  94,  n.  23) 
nevertheless  ascribes  the  work  to  Abraham  b.  Hiyya,  because 
he  is  quoted  by  Jedaiah  ha-Penini  (about  1300)  as  the 
author  of  a  work  named  Dixn  m3,  which,  Kaufmann  thinks, 
is  merely  the  translation  of  the  Arabic  title  of  our  work. 
This  identification  cannot  be  maintained,  for  Abraham  b. 
Hiyya  wrote  all  his  works  in  Hebrew,  not  in  Arabic,  while 
the  MS.,  as  quoted  before,  plainly  shows  that  the  original  was 
Arabic  ;  comp.  Steinschneider,. 4 &ra/m?;^  Ibn  Esra  (in  Supple- 
ment ziir  historisch-literarischcn  Abtheilung  der  Zcitschrift 


398  SAADIA  GAON 

fiir  Mathematik  und  Physik,  vol.  XXV,  pp.  59-128),  p.  119. 
From  the  contents  of  the  extracts  made  by  Steinschneider, 
HB.  X,  25,  and  Kaufmann,  /.  c,  pp.  95,  124,  n.  6,  dealing  with 
anatomy,  nothing-  definite  can  be  concluded.  Various  pas- 
sages, showing  Saadia's  familiarity  with  the  works  on 
medicine  and  anatomy  of  his  day,  are  found  also  in  Saadia's 
genuine  works,  e.  g.  in  his  Commentary  on  the  Sefer 
Yezirah,  pp.  97  f.,  103  (see  above,  note  454)  ;  Kitah  aU 
'Afnonut,  pp.  196  ('  Emunotj  ed.  Cracow,  p.  131),  201  (134), 
316  (205  f.)  ;  comp.  above,  pp.  182,  187  (n.  437),  193.  The 
topics  noted  in  the  outline  of  the  contents  of  the  other  four 
chapters — on  the  nature  of  the  soul,  mind,  etc.,  on  the  four  ele- 
ments, on  the  parallelism  between  the  microcosm  and  macro- 
cosm, and  on  the  definition  or  limits  (Tn^n=  Arabic  Jpidud, 
plural  of  h<idd)  of  life  and  death  and  what  follows  there- 
after— are  all  subjects  treated  by  Saadia  in  his  extant  philo- 
sophic writings ;  see  above,  pp.  187,  222  ff.  I  expect  to  arrive 
at  a  definite  conclusion  by  a  future  examination  of  the 
Berlin  MS.  For  the  present  we  have  no  sufficient  ground 
to  deny  Saadia's  authorship  of  this  work  against  the  expHcit 
testimony  of  the  anonymous  Hebrew  translator.  Stein- 
schneider mentions  the  book  in  the  index  to  his  Arabische 
Literatur  {Register  IV,  p.  11,  s.  v.  "in)  as  a  work  of  Saadia, 
but  there  is  no  trace  of  it  in  the  paragraph  dealing  with  the 
works  of  the  Gaon ;  see  also  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  162,  n.  3. 

POLEMICS 

9.  A  Refutation  of  the  Karaite  Abu-1-Surri  b.  Zuta  or 
Zita,  twice  referred  to  by  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra  in  his  Com- 
mentary on  the  Pentateuch  (Exodus,  21,  24,  and  Leviticus, 
23,  15,  in  the  recension  pubhshed  by  M.  PViedlaender,  Essays, 
etc.,  Hebrew  part,  p.  70).  It  cannot  be  inferred,  however, 
from  either  of  the  passages  that  Saadia  refuted  the  Karaite 
in  a  special  treatise.  The  latter,  who  is  supposed  to  have 
lived  in  Egypt,  may  have  had  oral  controversies  with  Saadia 
in  that  country,  which  were  subsequently  recorded  by  the 
Gaon  in  his  commentaries  on  the  Bible,  whence  they  were 
then  taken  by  Ibn  Ezra  ;  see  for  the  whole  matter  Poznanski, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  VII— UNCERTAIN  DESCRIPTION    399 

JQR.,  X,  255,  no.  5 ;  idem,  KLO.,  p.  4,  and  the  references 
given  there,  n.  2 ;  comp.  Bacher,  JR.,  X,  582,  col.  i,  no.  5. 

10.  Refutation  of  the  Karaite  Daniel  b.  Moses  al-Kumisi 
or  Kumsi  (^D»1P^t<)  of  the  ninth  century,  a  small  Hebrew 
fragment  of  Avhich  was  published  by  Schechter,  Saadyana, 
no.  xiii.  It  is  not  quite  certain  that  the  fragment  is  part  of  a 
separate  polemic  of  Saadia  against  the  Karaite,  though  the 
text  seems  to  favor  this  assumption  ;  comp.  Poznanski,  JQR., 
VIII,  681-684 ;  idem,  J.  E.,  IV,  432  f. ;  Schechter' s  Saadyana, 
p.  10,  s.  V.  Daniel  b.  Moses ;  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  p.  75 ; 
above,  note  387. 

11.  A  Refutation  of  the  Masorite  Aaron  b.  Moses  b. 
Asher,  whom  Saadia  knew  personally.  Dunash  b.  Librat 
quotes  a  sentence  (DIDIt^n  ^l^n  ^^D)  in  which  Saadia  po- 
lemicizes  against  Ben  Asher  (see  Baer  and  Strack,  ^pnpl 
D^DyDn,  xi,  n.  11).  Here  again  it  is  not  certain  that  the 
sentence  was  taken  from  a  special  polemic  of  Saadia ;  it  may 
have  occurred  in  one  of  his  grammatical  or  exegetical 
works;  comp.  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2200,  no.  13;  Bacher, 
Anfdnge,  p.  48;  JE.,  X,  582,  no.  11  ;  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge, 
p.  71,  n.  I.  Luzzatto's  interpretation  of  the  sentence  (D^l 
^Vixn,  I  (1847),  11^)  i'^  far-fetched.  It  may  perhaps  not  be 
a  direct  quotation  of  Saadia's  words  at  all,  but  merely  the  in- 
formation given  by  Dunash,  that  accordmg  to  Saadia  the 
letters  ^^n  are  the  radicals  (ninixn)  of  the  noun  nra^n 
(Canticles,  4,  4) ,  a  view  which  Dunash  opposes.  The  second 
p|^n  is  perhaps  an  erroneous  dittography,  or  the  first  ^^D  is  a 
corruption  of  the  catchword  DVD^n,  which  stood  there 
originally. 

12.  Makalah  ft  sirCig  al-Soht  (nnD^fc?  ii^lD  ^Q  n^«p©), 
"  Treatise  on  the  Light  of  Sabbath."  The  question  whether 
or  not  it  is  permitted  to  have  light  in  the  house  on  the  eve  of 
Sabbath  was  an  important  point  of  controversy  between 
Karaites  and  Rabbanites.  A  work  of  Saadia  under  the  above 
title  is  mentioned  twice  in  an  ancient  book-list  published  from 
the  Genizah  by  Elkan  N.  Adler  and  I.  Broyde,  JQR.,  XIII, 
55,  nos.  78,  87.    Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,  Commentary  on  Exodus, 


400  SAADIA  GAON 

35,  3,  says:  cp^inn  ^y  nmt^n  13DJ  nsD  nnn  nnyo  n-i  juoni 
nntr  nj  ^y  UOIOIP  ^y,  which  probably  refers  to  the  work 
under  consideration.  Poznanski,  JQR.,  XIII,  329,  no.  78, 
however,  thinks  that  the  Makdlah  (meaning  also  paragraph, 
chapter)  was  not  a  separate  book,  but  formed  part  of  the 
Kitdb  al-Tmnyiz ;  see  above.  Bibliography,  VI,  p.  380 ; 
Schechter,  Saadyana,  p.  44,  11.  10-15  [below,  p.  427]. 

13.  Kitdb  al-kiydm  'aid  al-shardi  al-samiyya  (IxnD 
n^y^D^X  y^XIK^^X  '>'?V  D^^^P^X),  ''Book  in  Support  of  the 
Ceremonial  (literally:  revealed)  Laws."  Under  this  title 
a  work  of  Saadia  is  quoted  in  a  Bodleian  MS.  which  contains 
also  Saadia's  Commentary  on  the  Scfer  Yezirah;  see  Munk, 
Notice  sur  R.  Saadia,  p.  14,  n.  2.  According  to  Stein- 
schneider,  CB.,  2166,  the  same  work  is  referred  to  by  Moses 
Ibn  Ezra  under  the  title  Kitdb  tahsil  al-shardi  al-samiyya 
(^^yDD^^?  y^xnti>^«  ^"'Vnn  nxriD),  "Book  on  the  Manifesta- 
tion of  the  Ceremonial  Laws,"  while  the  Muhammedan 
author  Al-Nadim  quotes  it  briefly  as  y^i^ltJ'^X  n«n!)  [see 
Postscript].  Numerous  theories,  some  rather  strange,  all  of 
them  recorded  by  Steinschneider,  /.  c,  have  been  advanced  as 
to  the  identity  of  this  work.  Among  these  theories  is  worth 
mentioning  that  of  Dukes,  Beitrdgc,  p.  12  (noted  by  Stein- 
schneider, CB.,  2163,  no.  10),  identifying  it  with  the  "  Intro- 
duction to  the  Talmud,"  a  view  that  greatly  commends  itself  ; 
see  above,  pp.  159,  342.  Later  a  suggestion  of  Haneberg 
was  taken  up  by  Bacher  {Abraham  Ibn  Esra's  Ein- 
leitung  su  seinem  Pentateuch-Commentar,  p.  20,  n.  2)  to  the 
eflfect  that  the  work  is  identical  with  the  Kitdb  al-Amdndt, 
a  view  considered  "  plausible  "  also  by  Poznanski,  REL,  XL, 
87,  who  had  previously  (JQR.,  X,  259)  adopted  the  opinion 
of  Munk.  that  it  was  some  sort  of  a  compendium  of  laws 
comp.  Wunderbar,  Literaturblatt  des  Orients,  1847,  PP-  4^7- 
490.  Recently  again  it  was  proposed  by  Hirschfeld  (JQR., 
XVIII,  600,  n.  3,  repeated  by  him  in  the  Cohen-Festschrift, 
p.  265,  and  lately  again  in  the  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  VIII  (1917- 
1918),  p.  167)  to  read  the  title:  D^^p^x"  ^xtonx  DNfi^ 
ri'^yttD^i^  yi^nti^^^?  ■'a,  "  Book  on  the  Rejection  of  Analogy  in 
(the    interpretation    of)    the    Ceremonial    Laws."      These 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  VII— UNCERTAIN  DESCRIPTION    401 

changes  in  the  title,  as  was  pointed  out  by  Poznanski  (KLO., 
p.  97),  have  no  justification  whatever.  Moreover,  the  read- 
ing Di?''P^^?  (for  D5<^P^^5=  analogy,  which  had  already  been 
suggested  by  Steinschneider,  TIB.  IV  (1861),  46,  n.  2)  is 
supported  by  the  title  of  the  work  given  below,  no.  14; 
comp.  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  p.  no,  n.  i,  where  DX''pf'«  is  a 
mistake  forDN^"5^t5. 

On  the  basis  of  the  existing  material  no  definite  conclusion 
can  be  arrived  at,  but  I  am  inclined  to  think,  with  Hirschfeld, 
Cohen's  Festschrift  {Jiidaica,  Berlin,  1912,  pp.  265  f.),  that 
the  Kitdb  al-Kiydm,  or  Tahsil,  was  originally  a  polemical 
treatise  in  defense  of  those  religious  laws  that  are  not  dic- 
tated by  human  reason,  but  are  based  on  the  doctrine  of 
divine  revelation  (see  above,  p.  208).  Subsequently  Saadia 
made  this  treatise  a  part  of  his  larger  work,  the  Kitdb  al- 
'Amdndt,  in  which  it  forms  the  third  chapter.  We  know 
that  most  of  the  chapters  of  this  work,  if  not  all  of  them, 
were  originally  circulated  as  separate  writings,  partly  also 
under  different  titles  (see  above,  note  456).  It  should 
be  added  that  the  title  Tahsil  under  which  it  is  quoted  by 
Moses  Ibn  Ezra  is  found  in  the  list,  JQR.,  XIII,  54,  no.  59 
(see  Poznanski,  JQR.,  XIII,  327,  no.  59),  so  that  Eppen- 
stein's  doubt  {Beitrdge,  p.  no,  n.  i)  is  not  justified.  For 
further  references  see  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  50,  no.  13 ; 
comp.  Cowley,  Catalogue,  no.  2828,2. 

14.  Kitdh  kasr  al-radd  'aid  al-kiydm  (^^V  ni^«  "ID!)  nXDD 
Di<''P^t<),  "  Rejoinder  against  the  Refutation  of  the  Kiydm," 
i.  e.,  of  the  work  under  that  title  discussed  in  the  preceding 
paragraph.  This  Rejoinder  is  recorded  as  a  work  of  Saadia 
in  the  ancient  book-list  pubHshed  by  Bacher,  REJ.,  XXXIX, 
200,  no.  29;  comp.  Bacher's  interpretation,  ibidem.,  p.  206, 
no.  5,  who  suggests  that  it  may  have  been  directed  against  the 
Karaite  Ibn  Sakawaihi,  the  author  of  the  Kitdb  al-Faddih,  in 
which  attacks  on  Saadia's  Kitdb  al-Kiydm  (above,  no.  13) 
may  well  have  occurred  (see  above,  p.  265).  If  Bacher 's 
suggestion  is  correct,  we  may  assume  that  this  Rejoinder, 
too,  was  not  a  separate  work,  but  that  part  of  Saadia's 
polemic  against  Ibn  Sakawaihi  (see  this  Bibliography,  VI, 
26 


402  SAADIA  GAON 

pp.  382  f.;  which  dealt  particularly  with  the  latter's  attacks  on 
the  Kitdh  al-Kiydin.  Less  probability  attaches  to  the  sugges- 
tion of  Poznanski  (RE J.,  XL,  87),  that  we  have  to  read  here 
again  D«"'P=  analogy,  for  D«^P.  The  word  kiyds  suggests 
itself  merely  because  of  its  frequency  in  the  controversial 
literature  of  the  Karaites  and  the  Rabbanites.  This  fact 
should  not  mislead  us  to  put  it  in  place  of  Dt^^P  everywhere. 

15.  Kitdb  al-Kashf  (^tiO^X  nt^DD),  "  Book  of  Disclosure." 
A  work  of  this  name  is  mentioned  together  with  two  other 
polemical  writings  of  Saadia  (the  ^Qt<nno^t^  ^^y  nn^X  n^DD  ; 
see  above,  pp.  266  f .,  and  the  one  discussed  in  the  preceding 
paragraph,  no.  14)  in  the  Hst  J  OR.,  XIII,  54,  no.  59  (see 
ibidem,  p.  327,  no.  59).  It  is  in  all  probability  the  same  as 
quoted  in  a  Genizah  i\IS.  recorded  by  Cowley,  Catalogue,  II, 
no.  2668,  25.  Cowley  suggests  its  identity  with  the  Sefer 
ha-Gahii  with  a  query.  Indeed,  the  identification  is  quite 
improbable.  A  Kitdb  al-Kashf  is  mentioned  also  in  Schech- 
ter's  Saadyana,  no.  xxxvii,  p.  79,  but  it  is  not  obvious  from 
that  passage  whether  it  is  to  be  attributed  to  Saadia  or  to  his 
pupil,  a  certain  Abraham  al-Sairafi,  see  above,  p.  293 ;  comp. 
Poznanski,  Zur  jildisch-arabischen  Literatur,  p.  15;  Schech- 
ter's  Saadyana,  pp.  8,  20,  n.  i.  The  work  was  at  all  events 
of  polemical  content. 

16.  Kitdb  al-Iskdt  (nN3D5<^t^  nKDD),  "'  The  Book  that  Si- 
lences "  {sc.  the  opponent),  mentioned  as  a  work  of  Saadia 
in  the  Genizah  MS.  (Cowley,  Catalogue,  II,  no.  2668,  25 ; 
comp.  Poznanski,  Schechter's  Saadyana,  p.  20,  n.  i)  referred 
to  above,  no.  15.  As  the  title  of  the  treatise  indicates,  it  was 
likewise  of  a  polemical  nature. 

I  place  these  last  two  works  (15  and  16)  in  this  section  of 
the  Bibliography,  because  nothing  further  is  known  about 
them.  It  is  possible  that  they  were  separate  parts  of  the 
larger  works  previously  described. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

17.  11S*:i  nnyo  nriDO  (Epistle  of  Saadia  Gaon),  ad- 
dressed to  some  unnamed  community.  The  Epistle,  covering 
about  three  pages,  is  found  in  a  manuscript  volume  which 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  VIII— SPURIOUS  WORKS  403 

was  recently  discovered  by  Dr.  Nahum  Slouschz  on  his 
travels  in  Morocco,  in  the  house  of  a  Jew  by  the  name  of 
Judah  Perez.  The  volume  which  I  had  occasion  to  examine 
contains  several  mediaeval  writings,  one  of  which  bears  the 
date  1438,  but,  if  I  remember  rightly,  is  not  written  by  the 
same  hand  that  wrote  the  Epistle.  The  latter  consists  of  a 
number  of  short  moral  exhortations,  each  one  beginning 
with  the  words  "  Children  of  Israel !  "  (^fc^ntJ^^  ""Jn)  and  end- 
ing with  some  appropriate  Biblical  verse.  A  summary  of 
the  content  with  the  facsimile  of  one  page  was  given  by 
B.  Revel  in  the  Jezvish  Forum  (New  York,  1918),  pp.  74-77, 
the  writer  promising  to  publish  the  text  in  full  elsewhere. 

18.  nn^tJ^  ^^V  (Ten  Songs),  a  short  fragment  dealing 
with  songs  by  Biblical  personages,  as  the  Song  of  Moses, 
etc.,  published  by  Harkavy  in  I sraelitische  Monatsschrift 
(Beilage  zur  "  Tildischen  Presse"),  Berlin,  1890,  no.  12. 
It  was  no  doubt  part  of  Saadia's  Pentateuch  Commentary, 
but  perhaps  existed  also  separately  under  the  above  title. 
For  details  see  A.  Epstein  in  the  periodical  liynni  ITntrDD, 
I  (1904),  85-89;  Harkavy,  Oeuvres,  IX,  p.  Ixiv;  Neubauer- 
Cowley,  Catalogue,  no.  2745,  23 ;  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  66, 
n.  24. 

VIII.  SPURIOUS  WORKS 

It  is  often  as  important  to  know  what  an  author  did  not 
write,  as  it  is  to  know  what  he  wrote.  Many  mediaeval 
thinkers  and  dreamers,  particularly  the  latter,  had  the  pe- 
culiar habit  of  ascribing  their  own  literary  productions  to 
some  great  name  of  ages  gone  by  (pseudepigraphy).  They 
were  not  inspired  by  evil  motives;  it  was  merely  part 
of  their  system  for  the  propaganda  of  thought.  By  hitching 
their  book  to  the  name  of  some  famous  personage  they 
expected  to  secure  adherents  to  the  ideas  expressed  therein. 
Especially  numerous  were  the  pseudepigraphic  writings  in 
the  field  of  the  occult  sciences  and  of  all  sorts  of  mysticism 
which  did  not  appeal  to  reason  and  hence  needed  the  sanction 
of  a  recognized  authority.  It  is  therefore  quite  natural 
that  a  man  of  Saadia's  reputation  should  be  credited  with 
some  such  cryptic  works,  in  order  to  assure  their  acceptance. 
They  are  here  given  in  alphabetical  order : 


404  SAADIA  GAON 

1.  D^C1D1^''£)n  in«,  ''  The  Philosophers'  Stone  "  quoted  by 
Moses  Botarel  of  Spain  (about  1400)  at  the  beginning  of  his 
Commentary  on  the  Sefer  Yezirah.  Moses  is  known  to  have 
been  very  liberal  in  the  invention  of  authors  and  books ;  see 
Rapoport,  Toledot  R.  Saadia,  n.  47;  Steinschneider,  CB., 
1780-1784,  2218;  comp.  Dukes,  Beitrdge,  p.  103;  Jellinek, 
Bcitrdge  2ur  Geschichte  der  Kahhala,  I,  60. 

2.  ni^niJ  (n  "i£D),  "Book  of  Lots,"  the  superstitious  con- 
coction of  an  anonymous  author  of  which  there  are  several 
MSS.  and  printed  editions;  see  Dukes,  Beitrdge,  p.  103; 
Steinschneider,  CB.,  2218;  idem,  Zur  pseudepigraphischen 
Literatur  ....  des  Mittelalters,  Berlin,  1862,  p.  80,  n.  2 ; 
idem,  Hehrdische  Uehersetzungen,  p.  868,  no.  i  ;  p.  869, 
no.  5 ;  Neubauer  and  Cowley,   Catalogue,  II,  no.  2780,  2. 

3.  ^X"":!  tJ'nc,  Commentary  on  Daniel,  printed  in  the  Rab- 
binic Bible  as  a  work  of  Saadia  Gaon.  Rapoport,  Toledot 
R.  Saadia,  n.  39,  has  proved  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  Gaon  is 
not  the  author  thereof.  Various  arguments  have  since  been 
advanced  by  L.  Griinhut  (in  L.  Rabinowitz's  i^iD,  St.  Peters- 
burg, 1899,  pp.  178-188)  to  disprove  Rapoport's  view.  They 
were  refuted  by  Poznanski,  Ha-Goren,  II  (1900),  loi  flf. ; 
see,  however,  Griinhut's  reply  in  L.  Rabinowitz's  ^IDHO,  I 
(St.  Petersburg,  1902),  pp.  137-154.  As  to  the  real  or  sup- 
posed author,  whose  name  may  also  have  been  Saadia,  see 
Steinschneider,  CB.,  2ig^,  and  especially  Poznanski,  Ha- 
Goren,  II,  92  f¥. ;  Porges,  MGWJ.,  XXXIV,  63  ff. 

4.  m^V  *1DD  ti^na,  "  Commentary  on  the  Book  of  Crea- 
tion," printed  in  several  editions  of  the  Sefer  Yezirah,  first 
at  Mantua  in  1562.  In  discussing  it,  Munk  {Notice  sur 
Saadia,  p.  15)  remarks  that  "it  is  the  greatest  insult  one 
could  offer  to  Saadia  to  attribute  to  him  a  work  which  is 
unworthy  not  only  of  a  superior  mind,  but  of  any  human 
being  capable  of  thinking."  *  For  the  literature  of  the  sub- 
ject see  Steinschneider,  Die  hebrdischen  Uehersetzungen  des 
Mittelalters,  §  260 ;  see  also  Steinschneider,  Pseiido-Saadia's 

*  C'est  la  plus  grande  injure  qu'on  ait  pu  faire  a  Saadia,  que  de  lui 
attribuer  un  ecrit  aussi  peu  digne,  je  ne  dirai  pas  d'un  esprit 
superieur,  mais  de  tout  liomrne  capable  de  penser. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  IX— ERRONEOUS  ATTRIBUTION    405 

Commentar  zum  Buche  Yezira,  in  MWJ.,  1892,  pp.  79-85. 
It  may  be  added  that  even  a  recent  obscurantist  has  made 
the  attempt  to  honor  Saadia  with  a  makeshift  under  the 
title  of  nn^nj;  1^:id  (Future-Teller),  or  moi^n  jnnQ  (Inter- 
pretation of  Dreams),  Lemberg,  i860  ( ?)  ;  see  Stein- 
schneider,  HB.,  VI,  134.  For  MSS.  containing  spurious  and 
dubious  writings,  nearly  all  of  which  have  been  treated  above, 
see  the  list  of  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2222-2224.  For  Twelve 
Homilies  (D'^t^m  !''"•)  on  Canticles  by  Saadia  said  to  have 
been  translated  from  Arabic  into  Hebrew  by  Judah  Saraval 
(died  1617),  see  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  59,  top;  Poznan- 
ski,  Zur  jiidisch-arabischen  Literatur,  p.  45 ;  above,  p.  322. 

IX.    WORKS   ERRONEOUSLY   ATTRIBUTED   TO   SAADIA 
BY  RECENT  AUTHORS 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  note  here  all  the  mistakes  made 
by  various  authors  in  attributing  anonymous  writings  to 
the  Gaon.  Thus,  when  a  Commentary  on  Aristotle's  Ethics 
(nnon  IQD  a^ns)  is  ascribed  to  Saadia  by  Isaac  Satanow, 
because  he  confused  it  with  the  rwiD  ^'^  ti^ns  discussed 
above,  p.  159  (see  Steinschneider,  HB.,  XXI,  134;  idem., 
Hehrdische  Uehersetzungen,  p.  215,  n.  778),  or  when  even 
scholars  like  Dukes  (Beitrdge,  II,  38 ;  comp.  Steinschneider, 
CB.,  2198)  and  Harkavy  (see  Steinschneider,  HB.,  XXI, 
96)  credit  him  with  a  grammatical  work  under  the  title 
Pnpin  DDK^D  because  they  misunderstood  a  passage  in  the 
'Emunot  *,  the  matter  needs  no  further  discussion.  The 
proof  offered  by  Kaufmann  (Notes  at  the  end  of  Judah  b. 
Barzillai's  ni^V  nSD  tJ^nD,  p.  335,  bottom)  for  the  existence 
of  a  commentary  on  Chronicles  by  Saadia  is  likewise  based 
on  an  erroneous  interpretation  of  a  passage  in  the  Com- 
mentary on  Chronicles  attributed  to  one  of  Saadia's  pupils; 
see  above,  p.  327,  under  Chronicles;  Bardowicz,  Die  Ahfas- 

*  Ed.  Slucki,  p.  126,  ed.  Cracow,  p.  165.  Saadia  argues  there 
against  those  who  claim  that  the  Messianic  promises  of  the  prophets 
referred  to  the  time  of  the  Second  Temple  (see  above,  pp.  239  f.)  and 
says  that  when  he  "  subjected  their  theory  to  a  minute  examination  " 
(pnpin  nD«^DD   n^nxnni),  he   found   it  all  wrong. 


4o6  SAADIA  GAON 

sungszeit  der  Baraita  der  ^2  Normen,  p.  86,  n.  2 ;  Poznan- 
ski,  JQR.,  X,  248,  n.  i. 

For  a  number  of  other  Bible  commentaries  as  well  as 
translations  that  were  erroneously  attributed  to  Saadia  by 
various  scholars  and  editors,  see  the  Bibliography,  above, 
under  Minor  Prophets  and  Five  Scrolls  {Canticles,  Ecclesi- 
astes).  For  an  anonymous  commentary  on  the  Pentateuch 
noted  by  Deinard,  see  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  56.  Special 
mention,  however,  must  be  made  here  of  the  following 
works,  partly  because  of  their  resemblance  to  some  of 
Saadia's  recognized  writings  and  partly  because  their  au- 
thenticity is  here  and  there  still  maintained. 

I.  n5<»^3^i<  nt^•y^X  n-'Dan,  a  rhetorical  paraphrase  of  the 
Ten  Commandments,  which  exists  in  various  recensions  in 
several  MSS.  and  editions  enumerated  by  Steinschneider, 
AL.,  p.  285,  no.  87.  To  these  are  to  be  added  the  fragment 
no.  2861,  12a  in  Neubauer  and  Cowley's  Catalogue,  and 
another  one  in  the  collection  of  the  British  Museum.  In 
both  fragments  the  work  is  ascribed  to  one  Eleazar  b. 
Eleazar,  who  is  otherwise  unknown,  while  another  MS.  in 
the  library  of  Paris  ascribes  it  to  the  Karaite  Kirkisani, 
a  younger  contemporary  of  Saadia ;  see  Poznanski,  ZfhB., 
X,  148;  Zur  jiidisch-arab.  Liter.,  p.  48.  The  work  has  been 
published  under  the  name  of  Saadia  also  with  a  Hebrew  and 
German  translation  by  W.  Eisenstadter  (Vienna,  1868),  who 
was  deservedly  criticized  by  Derenburg,  in  Geiger's  Jiidische 
Zeitschrift,  VI,  314,  and  Steinschneider,  HB.,  XIX,  50; 
comp.  Frankel's  Monatsschrift,  1868,  p.  462.  Zunz,  who  gave 
a  description  of  the  contents  (Literaturgeschichte,  p.  96), 
expressed  doubts  as  to  the  authorship  of  Saadia;  Stein- 
schneider designated  it  as  dubious  in  his  Bodleian  Catalogue, 
2216,  and  later  Saadia's  authorship  was  positively  denied  by 
Derenburg,  /.  c,  and  Hirschfeld,  in  Semitic  Studies  in 
Memory  of  Dr.  A.  Kokut,  p.  248,  n.  2.  Somehow  or  other, 
later  authors  claimed  it  again  for  Saadia;  thus  Joel  Miiller. 
Oeuvres,  IX,  p.  xix  (corrected  by  Harkavy,  ib.,  p.  xli)  and, 
as  late  as  191 3,  Elbogen,  Der  Jiidische  Gottesdienst,  p.  321. 
The  booklet  was  translated  also  into  French  with  a  few  ex- 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  IX— ERRONEOUS  ATTRIBUTION    407 

planatory  notes  by  Isaac  Morali  (^^yio)  under  the  title 
Dissertation  homiletique  sur  le  decalogue  recitee  dans  les 
synagogues  d'Algerie  le  premier  jour  de  Pentecote  ceuvre  de 
R.  Saadia  Gaon,  Algiers,  191 3.  The  author  used  a  manu- 
script; a  comparison  of  the  French  translation  with  the 
Arabic  text  of  Eisenstadter  shows  absolute  identity  of  the 
contents  though  the  text  of  Morali  offered  a  few  variants 
(see  p.  12,  n.  i).  Morali  takes  no  notice,  and  probably  is 
unaware,  of  either  Eisenstadter's  or  any  of  the  other  publica- 
tions of  the  composition. 

To  the  editions  enumerated  by  Steinschneider,  AL.,  pp. 
63,  285,  and  JQR.,  XII,  484  (so  read  in  AL.,  p.  63)  should 
be  added  the  recensions  printed  in  the  liturgical  collections 
D^yu:  nynnx  (Leghorn,  1877,  pp.  74&-85&)  and  DmDn 
(Vienna,  1889)  ;  furthermore  the  three  recensions  reviewed 
by  Bacher,  ZfhB.,  VII,  114,  nos.  12-14,  and  the  nnt^'y  m:{< 
rrnnn,  Jerusalem,  1901  (a  reprint  of  the  edition  noted  by 
Bacher,  /.  c,  no.  14)  ;  see  ZfhB.,  VI,  104.  Finally,  it  should 
be  noted  that  while  none  of  these  recensions  is  attributable  to 
Saadia,  they  are  probably  the  further  development  and 
elaboration  of  a  similar  work  on  the  Decalogue  by  Saadia 
himself,  as  suggested  by  Zunz,  Litcraturgeschichte,  p.  96;  for 
there  does  exist  a  Hebrew  hturgical  composition  on  the 
Decalogue,  of  which  Saadia  is  unquestionably  the  author 
(see  the  Bibliography,  II,  p.  336,  no.  3)  and  which  proves  that 
the  Gaon  cultivated  this  form  of  liturgical  poetr)^  More- 
over, in  the  ancient  book-list  published  from  a  Genizah  MS. 
(Schechter,  Saadyana,  p.  79)  a  nnmn  mti^y  "T'DDD  is  men- 
tioned, which,  in  all  probability,  is  the  work  of  Saadia,  as 
are  most  of  the  anonymous  works  mentioned  in  that  list. 
The  compiler  of  the  list  seems  to  give  the  name  of  Saadia 
only  in  connection  with  the  latter's  complete  commentaries 
on  Bibhcal  books  (Isaiah,  Lamentations,  Job,  and  Esther) 
and  to  register  all  other  works  without  the  name  of  the  Gaon. 
The  commentary  on  the  Minor  Prophets  mentioned  there 
(1.  6)  was  fragmentary,  as  stated  by  the  compiler  (pnytDP), 
so  that  he  may  not  have  been  sure  about  the  author,  and  the 
same  may  have  been  the  case  with  the  1t<nTi<^N  n^sriD  (1.  15), 


4o8  SAADIA  GAON 

if,  as  I  assume,  it  refers  to  the  commentary  on  the  Penta- 
teuch; see  above,  p.  316,  and  p.  396,  no.  3  ;  Poznanski,  Schech- 
ters  Saadyana,  pp.  20-23. 

One  may  judge  of  the  popularity  of  this  composition  on 
the  Ten  Commandments  among  the  Jews  of  the  Orient  from 
the  fact  that  it  is  still  being  frequently  published  in  various 
forms  wherever  Arabic  speaking  Jews  settle  in  larger  num- 
bers. Thus  a  ^my  \^^'?'?  nnmn  mt^'y  Di:iin  was  recently 
published  by  a  Society  of  Jewish  Immigrants  from  the  Orient 
in  New  York(D^nK  niTy  ninn)  as  the  work  of  "  the  ancient 
Gaon  Saadia  («n«yD  jIDipn  pt^Jin)  ....  who  has  trans- 
lated the  whole  Torah  into  Arabic"  (New  York,  1915;  in 
Hebrew  characters).  It  is  written  in  rhymed  prose  in  the 
latest  Arabic  vernacular,  as  it  is  spoken  by  the  Jews  in  some 
parts  of  the  Orient,  and  is  one  of  the  fix-st  publications  of 
that  kind  in  this  country.  For  a  more  detailed  description 
of  a  similar  publication  in  New  York  see  Malter,  JQR.,  N.  S., 
vol.  VII,  pp.  609  f .  For  some  further  details  on  Arabic 
liturgies  on  the  Ten  Commandments  see  Steinschneider's 
Arabische  Predigten  in  Kayserling's  Bibliothek  jiidischer 
Kanzelredner,  II  (1872),  i  f. 

2.  I"ipn,  a  rhymed  composition  in  two  parts,  the  one  dealing 
with  legal  monetary  questions  (niJIDD  ^y^  nytJ*)  and  the 
other  with  laws  regarding  oaths  (myintJ^  nytJ^).  In  the 
Responsa  of  Meir  b.  Baruk  and  in  the  de  Rossi  MS.  of  the 
Parma  Library  (codex  563,  fols.  41-48)  the  composition  is 
erroneously  ascribed  to  Saadia  and  hence  also  by  Dukes, 
D''onp  ^n:,  p.  2,  and  Beitrdge,  II,  12,  as  also  by  Benjacob, 
Thesaurus,  p.  668,  no.  869;  see  Steinschneider,  CB.,  2161, 
no.  7,  where  Saadia's  authorship  is  denied.  Halberstam, 
who  published  the  composition  (Jeschurim,  VI,  150  ff.), 
proved  that  its  author  was  the  Gaon  Hai;  see  Buber, 
Introduction  to  '?i<)t2^  ^^ID,  Cracow,  1893,  p.  17,  note.  The 
work  was  also  published,  under  the  name  of  Hai  Gaon,  in 
the  collection  ni^nnn  r)^2,  edited  by  S.  Philipp,  part  II,  Lem- 
berg,  1899,  pp   16-31. 

3.  Ifc^rnn  mnno,  a  Hebrew  treatise  on  the  accentuation 
and  pronunciation  of  Hebrew,  a  MS.  of  which  was  dis- 


BIBLIOGRAPHY— DOCUMENTS  409 

covered  in  Yemen  by  the  traveller  Jacob  Saphir  of  Jerusa- 
lem and  published  by  Joseph  Derenbourg  under  the  title 
Manuel  du  lecteur,  in  the  Journal  Asiatique,  1870  (also 
separately;  see  above,  p.  339).  According  to  Saphir  {\1^ 
TiQD,  I,  12^?^  55Z?)  the  MS.  contained  also  an  Arabic  text 
(published  by  Neubauer,  Petite  grammaire  hebraique  prove- 
nant  de  Yemen,  Leipzig,  1891 ;  comp.  Bacher,  RE  J.,  XXIII, 
238  ff.),  and  the  whole  represents  a  work  of  Saadia  on 
Hebrew  Grammar;  see  Geiger,  Jildische  Zeitschrift,  IV,  202, 
note.  Derenbourg,  /.  c,  p.  311  (separate  edition,  p.  3)  dis- 
misses the  idea  as  untenable,  since  the  author  of  the  treatise 
embodied  therein  the  "  Poem  on  the  number  of  letters  "  in 
the  Bible  (see  above,  pp.  154,  339),  which  he  himself  attri- 
butes to  Saadia.  Moreover,  certain  grammatical  rules  em- 
ployed by  the  author  were  absolutely  unknown  in  the  time 
of  Saadia,  and  are  found  first  in  the  work  of  Judah  Hayyug. 
For  further  details  on  this  matter  see  the  references  given 
by  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  278,  no.  36;  p.  290,  no.  no. 

APPENDIX 

Reprinted  with  changes  and  additional  new  material  from  lOR., 
iV.  S.,  vol.  Ill  (1912-1913),  pp.  500-509. 

THE  DOCUMENTS  ON  THE  BEN   MEIR  CONTROVERSY 
(See  above,  pp.  69-88;  351  ff.) 

Altogether  there  exist  at  present  twelve  documents  re- 
lating to  the  controversy  of  Babylonian  authorities,  par- 
ticularly Saadia,  on  the  one  side  and  Ben  Meir  on  the  other. 
All  these  documents  are  more  or  less  fragmentary.  Some 
were  patched  together  from  separate  leaves,  partly  doublets, 
found  in  different  libraries,  whither  they  had  been  brought 
from  the  Genizah,  then  published  and  republished  sporad- 
ically by  various  scholars  in  several  periodicals  and  separate 
editions,  often  with  French  or  English  translations  and  an- 
notations, all  within  the  last  twenty  years. 

There  is  much  uncertainty  as  to  the  chronological  order 
or  even  the  identity  of  these  documents.  This  is  due  to  their 
mutilated  condition,  as  the  beginnings  and  the  ends,  where 
the  dates  and  the  names  of  the  authors  are  to  be  expected. 


410  SAADIA  GAON 

have  suffered  most  or  are  missing  altogether.  Thus  much, 
however,  seems  certain :  all  but  one  (no.  12,  perhaps  also 
no.  10)  originated  during  the  years  921-922  of  the  common 
era.  I  shall  try  to  give  a  brief  description  of  each  document 
and  to  arrange  them  in  their  approximate  chronological 
order,  using  in  particular  the  texts  published  in  H.  J.  Born- 
stein's  I^ND  131  n«J  nnyo  m  r\?'?n^  (reprint  from  the  n£D 
'7'2Vr\  in  honor  of  N.  Sokolow),  Warsaw,  1904,  pp.  45-102. 

I.  A  letter  of  the  Babylonian  authorities,  including  Saadia, 
addressed  to  Ben  Meir  at  the  beginning  of  the  quarrel,  sub- 
sequent to  Saadia's  return  from  Aleppo  to  Bagdad  shortly 
before  the  high  Holy  Days  of  the  year  4682  ( =  921 ) .  If  it  is 
true  that  Ben  Meir  issued  his  first  proclamation  on  the  Mount 
of  Olives  on  Hosha'na  Rabbah  of  that  year,  as  is  claimed 
by  Epstein,  n:in,  \ ,  137,  we  might  assume  that  this  procla- 
mation was  the  cause  of  the  letter  under  consideration,  and 
that  it  was  written  as  soon  as  the  news  of  Ben  Meir's  pro- 
cedure reached  Babylon.  However,  Epstein's  assumption  is 
subject  to  doubt,  as  such  a  proclamation  by  Ben  Meir  is  not 
clearly  stated  in  the  sources,  and  the  various  passages  that 
come  into  consideration  may  also  be  referred  to  the  proc- 
lamation by  one  of  Ben  ]\Ieir's  sons,  which  took  place  about 
three  months  later.  Moreover,  to  judge  from  the  highly 
respectful  and  friendly  tone  in  which  the  writers  of  this 
letter  address  themselves  to  their  opponent,  especially  when 
compared  with  the  style  of  their  subsequent  letters  to  him, 
it  is  hard  to  believe  that  Ben  Meir  had  already  taken  his  first 
decisive  step  by  officially  proclaiming  his  reforms.  I  am 
therefore  of  the  opinion  that  if  there  was  such  a  proclama- 
tion on  Hosha'na  Rabbah,  as  appears  from  the  phrase  DTIDn 
D^riMii  ^n  (Bornstein,  p.  91,  bottom,  92,  top),  this  letter  was 
written  prior  to  that  event,  after  the  first  meeting  between 
Saadia  and  the  authorities  upon  his  return  to  Bagdad.  This 
finds  some  support  in  a  passage  of  Saadia's  second  letter 
to  his  pupils  in  Egypt,  where  he  says  (Bornstein,  p.  70)  : 
nt<n  ntyy  ^  5>dp  •'3  nino    ^n^^ni   11:13   ^rrr^.n  ^:x    ^nim 

inon  Dtnsn  ^3  TlsnnnTyT^^":  The  wording  indicates  that 
some  time  elapsed  between  his  arrival  in  Bagdad  and  the 


BIBLIOGRAPHY— DOCUMENTS  411 

reaching  there  of  the  news  of  Ben  Meirs  proclamation.  The 
word  DTnDHj  which  occurs  twice  in  that  letter,  as  well  as 
"•nrniDn  (Bornstein,  p.  62,  1.  30 ;  comp.  p.  93, 1.  15)  is  in  favor 
of  Epstein's  view,  though  it  is  not  impossible  that  the  writers 
had  in  mind  the  proclamation  of  Ben  Meir's  son.  At  any 
rate  the  letter  in  question  was  written  before  the  month  of 
Tebet  4682,  when  the  proclamation  of  the  son  took  place,  and 
is  therefore  the  first  and  not,  as  Epstein  (ib.,  p.  140)  thinks, 
the  third  letter  of  the  Babylonian  Geonim  to  Ben  Meir ;  comp. 
S.  Eppenstein,  Beitrage,  p.  100,  n.  3. 

Of  this  letter,  which  is  lacking  at  the  beginning  and  the 
end,  two  defective  leaves  were  first  published  by  Schechter 
in  the  JQR.,  XIV,  52,  and  in  Saadyana,  pp.  16-19,  later  re- 
printed by  Bornstein,  pp.  yz-77-  Quite  recently  another 
fragment  of  the  same  letter,  consisting  of  one  leaf,  which 
agrees  exactly  with  the  first  leaf  published  by  Schechter  and 
Bornstein,  was  discovered  among  the  Genizah  fragments 
of  the  Bodleian  Library  and  edited  by  A.  Guillaume  in  the 
JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  V  (1914-1915),  pp.  546-547.  In  this  frag- 
ment the  portions  missing  in  the  publication  of  Schechter 
(about  a  third  of  the  leaf  on  both  sides)  are  restored  to  us,  so 
that  a  better  understanding  of  the  contents  is  now  possible. 
Why  Mr.  Guillaume  has  reprinted  also  the  second  leaf,  which 
was  edited  by  Schechter  and  Bornstein  and  to  which  he  had 
nothing  to  add,  is  not  clear  to  me. 

2.  The  conclusion  of  a  letter  by  the  Babylonians  addressed 
to  Ben  Meir,  dated  Tebet,  1233,  of  the  Seleucidasan  era 
(  —4682  Jewish  era).  The  fragment  counts  but  10  lines,  and 
contains  only  blessings  and  good  wishes  for  the  Palestinians. 
Eppenstein,  Beitrage,  p.  100,  suggests  that  it  might  be  the  end 
of  the  preceding  number.  Whatever  the  case  may  be,  this 
fragment,  too,  on  account  of  its  conciliatory  tone,  must  be 
assigned  to  the  time  preceding  the  proclamation  by  the  son 
of  Ben  Meir  within  the  same  month.  It  was  first  printed  by 
Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  213,  then  with  variants  by  M.  Fried- 
laender,  JQR.,  V,  197,  by  Epstein,  REJ.,  XLII  (1901),  179, 
and  by  Bornstein,  p.  45;  comp.  Epstein.  X^'^T],  V,  137,  n.  i. 
According  to  him  it  is  the  conclusion  of  the  first  letter  of  the 


412  SAADIA  GAON 

Geonim,  which  he  considers  lost,  but,  as  we  have  seen  above 
(no.  i),  without  ground. 

3.  The  reply  of  Ben  Meir  to  the  first  letter  of  the  Geonim, 
written  after  the  proclamation  of  his  son,  to  which  he  refers 
(Bornstein,  p.  51, 1.  10),  thus  either  in  the  latter  part  of  Tebet 
or  in  Shebat  4682.  It  was  published  first  by  Harkavy, 
Zikron,  V,  213-220  from  a  Bodleian  Genizah  fragment 
counting  six  leaves  (copied  for  him  by  Neubauer),  of  which 
the  sixth  ofters  only  one  legible  line,  and  two  additional 
leaves  which  he  found  among  the  Genizah  fragments  in  the 
library  of  St.  Petersburg  and  which  continue  the  text  of  the 
Bodleian  fragment.  Two  years  later  M.  Friedlaender  re- 
edited  the  Bodleian  MS.  with  various  omissions  and  correc- 
tions in  the  J  OR.,  V  (1893),  197  fif.  Subsequently  tw^o  more 
pages,  partly  corresponding  with  the  text  of  Harkavy  and 
partly  completing  it  (between  leaf  2  and  4),  were  brought  to 
Cambridge  by  Schechter.  One  of  these  was  published  by 
Israel  Levi,  RE  J.  XL  (1900),  262,  the  other  by  Schechter, 
JQR.,  XIV  (1901),  42,  and  in  Saadyana  (1903),  p.  15.  Very 
recently  another  leaf  containing  part  of  the  text  published 
both  by  Levi  and  Schechter,  was  found  by  Elkan  N.  Adler 
among  the  Genizah  fragments  in  his  possession  and  pub- 
lished by  him  with  a  French  translation  in  the  REJ.,  LXVII 
(1914),  50.  His  text  ofifers  several  better  readings;  comp. 
Poznanski  in  the  same  volume  of  the  REJ.,  p.  290.  In  1901 
A.  Epstein  re-edited  all  the  texts  (with  the  exception  of  the 
portion  published  by  Schechter)  with  an  elaborate  Introduc- 
tion and  copious  notes  in  the  REJ.,  XLII,  180-187.  He  also 
added  a  French  translation  of  nearly  the  w^hole  text  (ib.,  pp. 
187-191 ) .  Finally,  Bornstein,  using  all  the  material  collected 
by  his  predecessors,  published  the  various  fragments  of  the 
letter  in  his  work  on  the  controversy  (1904),  pp.  45-56,  with 
partly  different  readings  and  interpretations.  As  there  was 
still  a  gap  in  the  text  of  the  letter,  Bornstein,  an  authority 
on  the  subject  of  the  calendar,  ventured  to  restore  the  miss- 
ing portion  (between  leaf  5  and  leaf  7)  by  conjectures ;  see 
his  introductory  remarks,  p.  45.  His  conjectural  text  was 
recently  borne  out  in  all  essentials  by  Elkan  N.  Adler's  dis- 


BIBLIOGRAPHY— DOCUMENTS  413 

covery  among  the  Genizah  fragments  in  his  collection 
of  the  missing  sixth  leaf,  which  he  published  in  the  RE  J., 
LXVII  (1914),  51.  All  these  finds  notwithstanding,  the 
letter,  which  consisted  originally  of  twelve  leaves  (Poznan- 
ski,  RE  J.,  LXVII,  290) ,  is  still  incomplete,  a  fact  overlooked 
by  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  p.  97,  who,  contrary  to  Bornstein's 
explicit  statement  (p.  45),  and  although  at  that  time  the 
leaf  now  published  by  Adler  was  also  unknown,  asserts  that 
the  letter  "  is  preserved  in  its  entirety  " ;  comp.  Poznanski, 
/.  c,  whose  distribution  of  the  individual  leaves  among  the 
various  collections,  however,  is  not  clear. 

4.  The  letter  of  Saadia  to  his  pupils  in  Egypt,  which  was 
translated  and  fully  discussed  above,  pp.  55,  82  f.  There  is 
no  reference  in  this  letter  to  a  proclamation  of  either  Ben 
Meir  or  his  son.  I  have  shown,  however,  on  other  grounds 
(see  above,  p.  55)  that  it  was  written  either  in  Tebet  or  in 
Shebat  of  the  year  4682  (beginning  of  922,  common  era), 
thus  coinciding  in  time  with  the  letter  of  Ben  Meir  dis- 
cussed in  the  preceding  number.  The  exact  date  cannot  be 
determined,  and  the  letter  might  perhaps  as  well  be  placed 
before  that  of  Ben  Meir.  It  was  first  published  by  Schechter 
from  a  MS.  belonging  to  Mayer  Sulzberger,  JQR.,  XIV 
(1901),  59  {Sa-adyana,  pp.  24-26),  and  subsequently  by 
Bornstein,  pp.  67-69. 

5.  Saadia's  second  letter,  written  two  months  after  his 
first  letter  to  the  same  pupils,  as  he  states  explicitly.  It  was 
published  by  Neubauer,  JQR.,  IX  (1897),  37  5  Harkavy, 
ii:in,  II  (1900),  98;  with  French  translation  and  notes  by 
Epstein,  REJ.,  XLII  (1901),  200-203,  and  finally  by  Born- 
stein, pp.  69-71. 

6.  Ben  Meir's  second  letter  in  refutation  of  the  view  of 
the  Babylonian  authorities.  From  the  contents  of  this  letter 
it  is  evident  that  things  were  running  against  him  and  that  he 
had  suffered  some  defeats,  though  he  was  not  yet  ready  to 
give  in.  Contrary  to  his  expectations  even  some  of  his 
former  friends  celebrated  Passover  of  that  year  (4682)  in 
accordance  with  the  accepted  calendar  (comp.  the  passage 


414  SAADIA  GAON 

in  the  edition  of  Bornstein,  p.  92,  1.  9:  ID^Jn  nT\^^V  D«1 
jntn  nt^nn  1t^'Vn  ^«  na^tJ^n).  Probably  this  was  the  case 
with  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  congregations.  It 
is  therefore  safe  to  assume  that  the  letter  was  written  not 
long  after  Passover. 

Two  defective  leaves  (four  pages)  from  the  middle  of 
the  letter  were  published  by  Schechter,  JQR.,  XIV  (1901), 
56,  Saadyana,  pp.  20-22 ;  Bornstein,  pp.  90-93.  The  same 
portion  of  the  letter  was  recently  found  on  two  other  leaves 
of  the  Genizah,  which  restore  to  us  the  parts  missing  in  the 
edition  of  Schechter  and  Bornstein  (about  the  third  of  the 
content).  The  fragment  was  published  by  A.  Guillaume  in 
the  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  V  (1914-1915),  pp.  552-555- 

7.  A  fragment  disputing  the  right  of  the  Babylonians  to 
fix  the  calendar,  published  by  Schechter,  JQR.,  XIV  (1902), 
249,  Saadyana,  p.  131  ;  Bornstein,  p.  94.  Bornstein  suggests 
that  this  fragment  formed  a  part  of  Ben  Meir's  second  letter 
discussed  before  (no.  6) .  This  is  also  the  opinion  of  Epstein, 
n:in,  V  (1906),  139. 

8.  A  letter  against  Ben  Meir  by  some  unnamed  scholar, 
who,  as  Bornstein  (p.  78 ;  comp.  Epstein,  pan,  V,  141,  n.  2) 
pointed  out,  was  not  a  Babylonian.  The  author,  addressing 
himself  to  Ben  Meir,  uses  a  phrase  that  occurs  in  Ben  Aleir's 
second  letter  (the  passage  quoted  above  in  no.  6),  turning 
the  same  against  him  and  his  followers,  thus  making  it 
certain  that  he  wrote  during  the  same  summer,  probably 
soon  after  the  appearance  of  Ben  Meir's  epistle.  It  con- 
sists of  three  leaves,  which  were  found  and  published  at 
different  times,  the  third  leaf  by  Israel  Levi,  REJ.,  XLI 
(1900),  229-232,  re-edited  by  Epstein,  REJ.,  XLII  (1901), 
197-200;  the  second  by  Schechter,  JQR.,  XIV  (1901), 
62-63  (reprinted  in  Saadyana,  pp.  26-28)  ;  and  the  first  by 
the  same  author  in  Saadyana  (1903) ,  p.  19.  The  three  parts, 
all  badly  mutilated  and  lacking  about  half  of  the  original 
contents,  were  then  arranged  in  their  consecutive  order  and 
re-edited  with  explanatory  notes  by  Bornstein  (1904),  pp. 
78-89.  Lastly,  here  again  another  complete  leaf  corre- 
sponding to  the  first  leaf  edited  in  Saadyana,  p.   19  avrs 


BIBLIOGRAPHY— DOCUMENTS  415 

recently  found  among  the  Genizah  fragments  of  the  Bod- 
leian Library  and  published  by  A.  Guillaume  in  the  IQR., 
N.  S.,  vol.  V  (1914-1915),  pp.  550-551.  This  is  a  welcome 
find,  as  the  leaf  contains  more  than  double  the  contents  of 
the  mutilated  leaf  previously  published. 

9.  A  fragment  dealing  with  the  differences  between  the 
"  Four  Gates  "  of  the  accepted  calendar  and  those  intro- 
duced by  Ben  Meir.  There  is  not  the  least  doubt  that 
Saadia  is  the  author  of  this  fragment,  as  various  phrases 
and  even  a  whole  portion  of  it  agree  almost  Hterally  with 
passages  occurring  in  the  remnants  of  the  DnVDH  1QD ;  comp. 
the  phrase  in  Bornstein,  p.  64,  1.  18  and  p.  102,  1.  3,  as  also 
the  passages  following  there  on  pp.  65  and  102,  respectively. 
The  question  is  only  as  to  the  chronological  place  of  this 
fragment  within  the  controversial  literature.  Bornstein, 
p.  99,  suggests  that  it  may  have  been  part  of  the  Dny^n  12D 
or  an  appendix  thereto.  Epstein,  however,  in  \''\^n,  V,  140, 
though  recognizing  the  authorship  of  Saadia,  is  of  the 
opinion  that  it  represents  a  letter  of  the  Babylonian  authori- 
ties to  the  Jewish  communities.  If  that  be  the  case  we  should 
have  to  assume  that  Saadia  was  charged  even  with  the  com- 
position of  the  official  letters  of  the  Geonim,  which  is  not 
very  probable.    Besides,  the  words  (p.  102)  :  "IDDPI  DH  mnD^ 

n]n  n^KD  p  n^VD  nvDn'?  ^xitj-*^  ^d  linn  inDT^  inrn^  nrn 
PlIDiyi  n^nriD,  do  not  seem  to  refer  to  a  letter,  but,  like  the 
parallel  passage  (p.  65),  to  some  memorial  volume  that  was 
intended  for  the  Jewry  in  general.  To  such  a  n^3D1  111DT  IBD 
ni*n^  Saadia  refers  also  in  an  Arabic  letter  published  by 
Hirschfeld.  JQR.,  XVI  (1904).  296,  fol.  2  verso,  11.  4-5,  and 
it  is  therefore  probable  that  we  have  here  a  fragment  of  that 
memorial  volume.  This  is  suggested  also  by  Eppenstein, 
Beitr'dge,  p.  102,  n.  3,  but  he  overlooks  the  authorship  of 
Saadia.  There  is  only  this  difficulty,  that  in  the  letter  referred 
to  Saadia  speaks  of  the  book  as  having  been  written  by 
the  Exilarch,  while,  as  pointed  out  before,  the  fragment 
indicates  Saadia  as  the  author.  We  may  assume,  however, 
in  this  instance,  that  Saadia  wrote  the  book  by  request  of 
the  Exilarch  and  in  his  name,  so  as  to  give  it  more  weight 


4i6  SAADIA  GAON 

and  authority,  and,  therefore,  in  referring  to  it  had  to  desig- 
nate it  as  the  work  of  the  Exilarch.  After  all,  it  was  not  a 
question  who  was  the  writer  of  a  document,  but  what  pur- 
pose it  was  intended  to  serve.  The  description  Saadia  gives 
there  of  the  inDT  n2D,  as  dealing  with  the  Four  Gates  con- 
trived by  Ben  Meir,  tallies  very  well  with  the  contents  of 
our  fragment.  I  am  therefore  of  the  opinion,  that  the 
inDT  nSD  mcentioned  by  Saadia  in  one  of  the  fragments  of  the 
Dnyon  n5D(Bornstein,  p.  65)  is  not  another  name  for  the  "IDD 
Dny^n  itself,  as  has  been  hitherto  accepted  (Epstein,  n:in 
V,  140,  Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  p.  loi),  but  is  the  name  of 
another  book,  of  which  our  fragment  formed  a  part.  More- 
over, it  was  not  the  DnVDH  1DD,  which  was  to  be  read  in 
public  on  the  twentieth  of  Elul,  as  generally  assumed,  but  the 
inDT  1DD  mentioned  therein.  There  is  no  basis  for  the  as- 
sumption that  the  Sefer  Zikkaron  is  identical  with  the  Sefer 
ha-Moadim,  or  that  the  latter  was  intended  for  public  reci- 
tation. Judging  from  the  style  of  the  extant  fragments  of 
the  Sefer  ha-Moadim  it  would,  indeed,  seem  very  strange, 
that  such  a  book  should  have  been  destined  to  be  read  in 
public,  as  it  could  hardly  serve  the  purpose.  The  passages 
on  which  this  view  is  based  were  simply  misunderstood,  be- 
cause of  the  erroneous  identification  of  the  two  books.  It 
should  be  noticed  that  in  the  fragment  of  the  Sefer  ha- 
Moadim  (Bornstein,  p.  65)  Saadia  reports  that  it  was  de- 
cided to  write  a  Sefer  Zikkaron  for  future  generations 
(•^jnnx  "irnnn^  PIDT  IDD  niDDJ),  which  agrees  with  120 
nnn^  n^:i01  inDt  in  the  letter  published  by  Hirschfeld, 
while  in  the  fragment  of  the  Sefer  Zikkaron  (Bornstein, 
p.  102)  he  says  that  it  was  decided  to  write  this  book  as  a 
memorial  for  all  Israel  (insr^  inrn^  HTH  nCDH  n«  niDD^ 
'?^'l\^^  ^D  1'^rin).  This  distinction  between  the  two 
books  relieves  us  also  of  the  difficulty  that  Saadia  should 
have  repeated  his  report  in  nearly  the  same  words  in  one  and 
the  same  book.  The  Sefer  Zikkaron  was  Avritten,  first,  at 
the  request  of  the  Exilarch,  when  all  other  efforts  against 
Ben  Meir  had  failed,  and  was  finished  before  Elul,  4682; 
while  the  Sefer  ha-Moadim,  which  mentions  the  former, 


BIBLIOGRAPHY— DOCUMENTS  417 

may  have  been  written  at  any  subsequent  time,  but  probably 
soon  afterwards.  As  Saadia  informs  us  in  his  ^)'?^\^  "IDD 
(see  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  151,  1.  22 ;  comp.  JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol. 
Ill  (1912-1913),  p.  496, 1.  6)  he  wrote  the  Sefer  ha-Moadim 
also  by  request  of  the  Exilarch. 

The  fragment  of  the  Sefer  Zikkaron  was  published  by 
Schechter,  JQR.,  XIV  (1902),  498-5cmd  {Saadyma,  pp.  128- 
130),  and  by  Bornstein,  pp.  99-102. 

It  is  rather  surprising  that  Mr.  Elkan  N.  Adler  from  whose 
unique  Genizah  MS.  this  fragment  was  first  published  by 
Schechter  should  have  overlooked  my  discussion  of  the 
matter  {JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  Ill  (1912-1913),  p.  505-507)  as 
well  as  the  repeated  editions  of  the  fragment,  and  should 
have  re-edited  it  in  the  REJ.,  LXVII  (1914),  44fif.,  as  a 
"  new  document "  representing  part  of  the  Sefer  ha- 
Moadim!  The  new  thing  is  the  clear  French  translation 
which  he  contributed ;  comp.  Poznanski  in  the  same  volume 
of  the  REJ.,  p.  290. 

ID.  Three  fragments  of  Saadia's  Dnyon  TDD,  written 
probably  when  the  struggle,  so  far  as  we  know  it,  was  over, 
4682-4683 ;  see  above,  no.  9.  One  of  the  fragments  (counted 
by  Bornstein,  p.  58,  as  no.  II)  was  published  with  a  French 
translation  by  Elkan  N.  Adler  and  I.  Broyde,  REJ.,  XLI 
(1900),  224-229,  later  retranslated  and  re-edited  with  ad- 
ditional notes  by  A.  Epstein,  REJ.,  XLII,  191 -197.  Subse- 
quently the  fragment  was  completed  by  two  leaves  discov- 
ered by  Schechter,  which  partly  overlap  one  another  as  well 
as  the  text  previously  published.  The  two  additional  leaves 
were  pubHshed  by  Schechter,  JQR.,  XIV,  49-52  (reprinted 
in  Saadyana,  pp.  10-13). 

Fragment  no.  I  was  published  by  Schechter,  JQR.,  XIV, 
47-48  {Saadyana,  pp.  8-9),  and  fragment  no.  Ill  by  Schech- 
ter, ih.,  p.  52  {Saadyana,  pp.  13-14).  The  whole  was  later 
re-edited  by  Bornstein,  pp.  58-67.  For  another  fragment  of 
the  Sefer  ha-Moadim,  in  which,  however,  the  controversy 
is  not  explicitly  mentioned,  see  Harkavy,  Zikron,  V,  220; 
comp.  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XVI,  291,  n.  i.    A  more  recently 

27 


4i8  SAADIA  GAOS 

discovered  fragment  is  described  in  Cowley's  Catalogue,  II, 
no.  2660,  27. 

11.  An  Arabic  letter  of  Saadia  to  three  Rabbis  in  Egypt 
in  answer  to  their  inquiries  regarding  the  calculations  of 
Ben  Meir,  which  they  had  accepted  by  mistake,  celebrating 
the  festivals  accordingly.  Saadia  enlightened  them  on  the 
situation  and  admonished  them  to  read  for  themselves  and 
to  others  the  Letter  of  Reproof  and  Warning  (nn^lD  nJ<nD 
nnnrxi)  of  the  Head  of  the  Academy,  copies  of  which  he 
sent,  together  with  copies  of  the  Sefer  Zikkaron  of  the  Exil- 
arch  (see  above,  no.  9).  This  interesting  letter  is  dated 
"  Friday,  the  nth  of  Tebet."  The  year  is  not  given,  but  no 
doubt  it  is  4683.  The  letter  was  published  with  an  English 
translation  by  Hirschfeld,  JQR.,  XVI  (1904),  290-297; 
comp.  D.  Yellin's  Notes  thereon,  ih.  pp.  y72-yy^. 

12.  A  list  of  the  differences  between  the  respective  calcu- 
lations of  Saadia  and  Ben  i\Ieir  regarding  the  appointment 
of  the  festivals  during  the  years  4682-4684.  According  to 
Epstein  (n:in,  V,  141)  the  author  of  this  list  lived  in  Egypt 
after  the  death  of  Saadia,  for  he  adds  the  eulogy  riDin^  IJnDT 
to  Saadia's  name.  He  also  speaks  of  Saadia  as  "  the  Gaon  " 
and  ''  the  Head  of  the  Academy,"  which,  as  we  know,  he  be- 
came only  several  years  after  the  quarrel.  The  list  was  pub- 
lished first  by  Schechter,  JQR.,  XIV,  59  (Saadyana,  pp. 
22-23),  later  re-edited  with  a  French  translation  by  Epstein, 
REJ.,  XLIV  (1902),  235  f.,  and  finally  by  Bornstein,  p.  95. 

In  addition  to  the  twelve  documents  here  discussed  there 
may  be  mentioned  a  fragment  which  was  recently  published 
by  A.  Guillaume  {JQR.,  N.  S.,  vol.  V  (1914-1915),  p.  556), 
and  which  seems  likewise  to  bear  on  the  Ben  Meir  contro- 
versy. The  allusions  are  so  veiled,  however,  that  nothing 
definite  can  be  said  about  the  contents.  My  assumption  (see 
Guillaume,  /.  c,  p.  545)  that  the  fragment  is  part  of  Saadia's 
first  letter  to  Ben  Meir  which  he  wrote  in  Aleppo  (see  above, 
pp.  82  f .)  is  not  borne  out  by  the  passage  (p.  557, 1.  6)  :  XDtJ^I 
^j^inrt  D3  1^^^  nrn  TiD^nn  niti^n,  in  which  Ben  Meir,  if  he  is 
meant  by  "  the  Head,''  figures  as  the  third  person. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY— DOCUMENTS  419 

An  epigram  bearing  the  name  of  Ben  Meir  and  supposed 
by  Elkan  N.  Adler,  who  pubhshed  it  in  the  REJ.,  LXVII,  52, 
to  be  intended  against  Saadia,  is  in  all  probability,  as  shown 
by  Poznanski  {RE J.,  LXVII,  291),  to  be  ascribed  to  another 
Ben  Meir,  of  a  later  period. 

Of  general  articles  on  the  controversy  I  wish  to  point  out  in 
particular  that  of  Poznanski,  Ben  Meir  and  the  Origin  of  the 
Jewish  Calendar,  JQR.,  X,  152-160,  as  well  as  the  elaborate 
essays  of  Epstein  {REJ.,  XLII,  173-210,  XLIV,  230-236, 
\^:^r\,  V,  1 18-142  ;  comp.  Poznanski,  ZfhB.,  X,  67)  and  Born- 
stein,  referred  to  repeatedly  above. 

The  account  here  given  of  the  chronological  order  and 
identity  of  the  documents  on  the  Ben  Meir  controversy 
differs  essentially  in  several  points  from  that  of  the  various 
authors  mentioned,  but  a  careful  examination  of  the  sources 
will,  I  believe,  justify  this  presentation. 


POSTSCRIPT 

While  the  present  work  was  going  through  the  press  some 
new  Genizah  material,  bearing  on  Saadia,  has  been  brought 
to  light  by  Dr.  J.  Mann,  who  has  courteously  sent  me  the 
galley  proofs  of  his  article,  which  is  to  appear  in  the  April 
issue,  1921,  of  the  JQR.  It  was  too  late  to  take  full  account 
of  that  material  in  all  the  passages  upon  which  it  has  a  direct, 
and  often  an  important,  bearing,  without  resorting  to  some 
radical  and  extensive  changes  in  our  construction  of  Saadia's 
biography.  I  have  therefore  thought  it  advisable  to  treat 
the  matter  separately  in  the  present  Postscript. 

The  point  that  concerns  us  most  is  a  new  date  for  Saadia's 
birth  which  is  to  be  inferred  from  one  of  the  recovered 
fragments.  The  fragment  in  question  contains  the  initial 
portion  of  a  Fihrist  (list)  of  Saadia's  writings  compiled  by 
two  of  his  sons  (She'erit  and  Dosa)  eleven  years  after  their 
father's  death,  at  the  request  of  some  person  or  persons  whose 
names  are  obliterated.  The  list  was  preceded  by  a  few  bio- 
graphical data  of  which  the  following  is  all  that  remains 
(the  letters  in  brackets  are  supplied  conjecturally)  :  ninD 
n^DHD    [nn]^c'r^]n   r\^^   '\"^    ino    D[r]  .  .  d   D^:tj^   D"'K^t^'o 

n:^^  K"''D  [nin]D — "  Sixty  years  less  forty  ....  days  of 
which  he  (Saadia)  was  fourteen  years  less  four  days  in  the 
academy  of  Sura.  He  died  in  the  second  night  (i.  e.,  in  the 
night  from  Sunday  to  Monday)  at  the  end  of  the  middle 
watch  (about  two  o'clock)  on  the  26th  of  lyyar  of  the  year 
1253  (of  the  Seleucida^an  era=May  18,  942).  It  is  now 
nearly  eleven  years  since  his  departure." 

Judging  from  the  exactness  with  which  the  date  of  Saadia's 
death  is  here  given,  it  seems  quite  certain  that  the  missing 
part  at  the  beginning  of  this  biographical  sketch  contained  a 

421 


422  SAADIA  GAON 

similarly  exact  information  about  the  date  of  Saadia's  birth 
and  that  the  words  "  sixty  years  less  forty  ....  days  "  re- 
fer to  some  preceding  verb  indicating  the  total  length  of  the 
Gaon's  life.  Taking  then  the  i8th  of  May,  942  as  the  day  of 
Saadia's  death,  we  obtain  the  result  that  he  was  born  between 
ttie  30th  of  March  and  the  8th  of  April,  882  (the  exact  day 
cannot  be  ascertained,  as  the  units  after  "  forty "  are 
missing) . 

The  date  892,  heretofore  generally  maintained,  was  based 
exclusively  on  the  testimony  of  Abraham  Ibn  Daiid,  who 
stated  explicitly  (see  Neubauer,  MJC,  I,  66)  that  Saadia 
died  in  942  at  the  age  of  about  fifty  years  (D^ti'Dn  pD, 
or,  as  other  MSS.  have  it,  'J  pD ;  see  below).  Ibn  Daiad's 
statement  is  repeated  in  the  works  of  all  the  following 
mediaeval  chroniclers  without  exception.  When,  with  the 
appearance  of  Schechter's  Saadyana  (1903),  the  old  mistaken 
idea  of  Saadia's  direct  importation  from  Egypt  in  928  to 
assume  the  Gaonate  of  Sura,  was  corrected  by  a  letter  from 
the  Genizah  from  which  we  learned  that  as  early  as  921 
Saadia  had  been  sojourning  in  the  East  for  at  least  six  and 
a  half  years  (see  above,  p.  55),  it  was  concluded  that  the 
year  915  was  that  of  his  emigration  from  Egypt.  For,  taking 
Ibn  Baud's  date  as  a  basis,  Saadia  was  then  23  years  old, 
and  it  appeared  quite  improbable  that  even  prior  to  this  age 
he  should  have  left  in  Egypt,  as  is  obvious  from  the  letter  in 
question,  not  only  a  wife  and  several  children,  but  also  a 
number  of  pupils,  whom  he  now  considered  mature  and  in- 
fluential enough  to  ask  them  for  their  support  in  his  struggle 
against  Ben  Meir.  These  conclusions  tallied  also  with  the 
general  assumption  that  the  ''  Refutation  of  Anan,"  written, 
as  is  well  attested  (see  the  references  above,  p.  380),  at  the 
age  of  23,  was  composed  by  Saadia  in  his  native  country  ; 
which  may  also  account  for  his  having  emigrated  soon  after 
(see  pp.  58  f.),  that  is,  in  accordance  with  the  chronology  of 
Ibn  Daiid,  in  915  ! 

Still  more  significant  corroboration  of  these  conclusions 
was  seen  in  a  fragmentary  diary,  which  was  undoubtedly 
written  bv  Saadia  and  in  which  the  latter  was  found  travel- 


POSTSCRIPT  423 

ing  in  Babylonia  and  Syria  at  the  age  of  ''  twenty  .  .  .  ." 
years  (here  again  the  units  are  obUterated) .  Circumstantial 
evidence  made  it  appear  very  probable  that  these  journeys 
took  place  in  920-921,  shortly  before  the  outbreak  of  the 
Ben  Meir  controversy  (see  above,  note  107),  and  this  again 
was  possible  only  on  the  basis  of  the  old  date,  892,  given  by 
Ibn  Daud,  as  according  to  the  date  882  of  the  recent  Genizah 
fragment  Saadia  must  then  have  been  38-39  years  old.  It 
should  be  added  that  the  word  DntJ^y  (twenty)  in  the  diary 
is  vocalized  and  accentuated,  removing  all  doubt  as  to  its 
correctness  (see  above,  p.  60). 

If,  then,  the  new  date  of  882  for  Saadia's  birth-year  be 
accepted  as  correct,  most  of  the  calculations  concerning  the 
time  of  Saadia's  departure  from  Egypt  and  his  subsequent 
travels  in  the  East,  as  presented  in  the  biographical  portion 
of  this  book,  would  have  to  be  given  up  or  essentially  modi- 
fied. We  are  thus  placed  before  the  alternative  of  rejecting 
either  the  reading  *'  fifty  "  (Ibn  Daud)  or  that  of  "  sixty  " 
(recent  Genizah  fragment)  as  faulty.  Ibn  Daiid's  text  is 
borne  out  by  all  the  MSS.  and  editions  of  his  work  as  well 
as  by  those  of  the  works  of  numerous  later  chroniclers,  who 
drew  upon  him.  Hence  a  mistake  in  his  text,  if  such  it  is, 
would  in  all  probability  have  to  be  traced  back  to  the  author 
himself,  who  may  have  been  misinformed.  In  the  case  of 
the  fragment,  on  the  other  hand,  the  mistake  could  only  have 
originated  with  some  copyist  (who  had  before  him  'J?3  (nins) 
which  he  read  as  'DO,  this  reading  being  then  given  in  full, 
QttJ'tJ^O,  by  another  copyist),  as  it  is  inconceivable  that 
Saadia's  own  sons,  the  authors  of  the  list,  should  have  been 
mistaken  about  the  age  of  their  father  at  the  time  of  his 
death. 

Now,  on  general  grounds,  it  might  readily  be  admitted  that 
the  mistake  is  Ibn  Daud's,  who,  as  proved  elsewhere,  was  not 
always  well  informed  (see  above,  note  86)."-^  But  then  we 
would  ultimately  be  compelled  to  assume  that  even  the 
earlier  source  or  sources  relied  upon  by  Ibn  Daud  were  like- 

*  Dr.  Mann's  suggestion  that  'J  in  Ibn  Daud's  text  is  a  copyist's 
mistake  for  'D  does  not  recommend  itself  for  the  reason  stated  above 
that  the  reading  is  found  in  all  extant  manuscripts. 


424  SAADIA  GAON 

wise  all  incorrect  or  their  authors  misinformed  with  regard 
to  exactly  one  full  decade  of  Saadia's  life.  Such  an  assump- 
tion, merely  because  a  conflicting  date  is  found  in  an  other- 
wise badly  mutilated  Genizah  fragment,  seems  to  me 
extremely  hazardous.  Genizah  fragments  are,  after  all,  not 
Masoretic  texts,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  Saadia  appeared 
to  the  ancient  writers,  like  Ibn  Daiid  and  his  predecessors, 
important  enough  to  make  them  treat  his  life  with  some  care 
and  attention.  Moreover,  the  expression  D''tJ^Dn  pD  {about 
fifty)  used  by  Ibn  Daud,  viewed  in  the  light  of  the  informa- 
tion we  receive  from  the  recent  fragment,  namely,  that  Saadia 
lived  "  sixty  years  minus  forty  ....  days,"  suggests  the 
idea  that  the  vagueness  of  Ibn  Daiid  was  not  due  to  his  un- 
certainty as  to  the  exact  number  of  years,  but  that  he  too 
was  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  decades,  which  he  took  to  have 
been  five,  were  lacking  some  days,  the  number  of  which  he 
either  did  not  know  or  did  not  care  to  state.*  If  this  be  the 
case,  it  would  seem  rather  strange  that  while  being  correctly 
informed  with  regard  to  a  small  fraction  of  a  year,  he  should 
have  been  misinformed  as  regards  a  whole  decade  of  the 
total  of  Saadia's  life. 

Finally,  it  should  also  be  taken  into  consideration  that, 
while,  as  will  be  seen  below,  all  the  details  contained  in  the 
fragment  can  be  borne  out  by  other  sources,  nothing  what- 
ever can  be  found  to  support  the  new  date  of  the  year  882  as 
that  of  Saadia's  birth,**  except  perhaps  the  general  reflec- 

*  Sherira,  the  chief  historian  of  the  Gaonate,  who  as  Gaon  and  con- 
temporary of  Saadia,  certainly  was  familiar  with  the  details  relating 
to  the  latter,  likewise  gives  only  the  fourteen  years  of  Saadia's  occu- 
pancy of  the  Gaonate,  but  omits  the  missing  days  mentioned  in  the 
fragment. 

**  A  passage  in  the  yilT  1")^  (I,  197,  col.  i,  no.  698)  of  Moses  b. 
Isaac  of  Vienna  (1250)  :  1IXJ  "'^l  n  Dt^n  K^ID  jINJ  HnVD  nil, 
referring  either  to  Hai  b.  Nahshon  of  Sura  (died  896)  or  Hai  b. 
David  of  Pumbedita  (died  898),  cannot  be  construed  to  prove  a  per- 
sonal contact  between  the  latter  and  Saadia,  as  in  that  case  we  should 
have  to  assume  that  Saadia  studied  at  the  academy  of  Sura  or  Pum- 
bedita prior  to  896  or  898;  for  which  assumption,  even  granting  that 
he  was  born  in  882,  there  is  as  little  reason  as  for  its  alternative, 
that  either  of  the  two  Hais  ever  was  in  Egypt. 


POSTSCRIPT  425 

tion  that,  having  accomplished  so  much  literary  work  he 
must  have  lived  more  than  fifty  years,  which  is  hardly  safe 
ground  to  build  upon. 

In  view  of  the  foregoing  considerations  it  seems  inadvis- 
able to  undertake  a  reconstruction  of  Saadia's  biography  on 
the  basis  of  the  new  date.  It  may  be  suggested,  however, 
that  leaving  Ibn  Daud  aside,  a  harmonization  of  this  date 
with  the  older  Genizah  material  might,  on  the  whole,  be 
possible  by  placing  Saadia's  emigration  from  Egypt  in  the 
years  905-911,  that  is,  when  according  to  the  new  date, 
Saadia  was  23-29  years  old.  He  may  at  first  have  spent  some 
time  in  Palestine,  where  he  met  Abu  Kathir  and  other  Pales- 
tinian scholars  (see  pp.  36,  65  f.),  and  then  proceeded  to  the 
seats  of  the  Gaonate,  subsequently  continuing  his  travels 
through  Babylonian  and  Syrian  cities.  The  diary  (above, 
pp.  59-62),  written  during  this  period,  would,  contrary  to 
our  previous  conclusions  (see  note  107),  stand  in  no  relation 
whatever  to  the  letters  of  Saadia  to  his  pupils  in  Egypt, 
written  in  922  (see  pp.  55  f.),  that  is,  eleven  or  more  years 
later.  During  the  intervening  years  he  must  have  lived 
again  for  some  time  in  the  Holy  Land,  for  in  one  of  the 
letters  referred  to,  written  somewhere  in  Babylonia,  in  which 
he  complains  to  his  pupils  in  Egypt  of  not  having  heard 
from  them  for  six  and  a  half  years,  he  writes  ''  you  have 
probably  thought  that  I  am  still  in  Palestine  "  (see  p.  56). 

While  it  would  thus  be  possible  to  bring  the  various 
Genizah  documents  into  harmony  with  the  new  date  derived 
from  the  recent  fragment,  we  have  no  explanation  for  the 
strange  fact  that  Saadia  should  have  lived  for  a  period  of 
seventeen  years  (905-922)  in  separation  from  his  family — 
unless  we  assume  that  subsequent  to  his  travels  in  Babylonia 
and  Syria,  as  described  in  the  diary,  he  returned  to  his  native 
country;  whence,  for  some  unknown  reason,  he  again  emi- 
grated to  Palestine  in  the  year  915.  All  this  is  quite  prob- 
lematical. Only  new  finds  in  the  unexplored  Genizah  col- 
lections may  eventually  clear  up  this  part  of  Saadia's  biog- 
raphy. For  the  present,  therefore,  I  deem  it  more  de- 
sirable to  leave  the  presentation  of  Saadia's  life  unchanged, 


426  SAADIA  GAON 

making  allowance,  however,  for  a  possible  need  of  readjust- 
ment in  the  future.  In  the  meantime  I  have  inserted  a  refer- 
ence to  this  Postscript  wherever  the  results  based  on  the  older 
material  came  in  conflict  with  the  data  of  the  latest  Genizah 
fragment. 

The  new  material,  including  the  fragment  in  question,  con- 
tains also  a  number  of  details  which  partly  modify  and  partly 
supplement  or  corroborate  various  statements  made  in  the 
course  of  our  investigation.  They  may  here  briefly  be  set 
forth  as  follows : 

1.  Saadia's  election  to  the  Gaonate  took  place  on  the 
22  of  Iyyar=i5  of  May,  928. 

2.  Saadia  did  not  write  a  commentary  on  the  whole  Penta- 
teuch, but  only  on  Genesis  from  the  beginning  to  the  section 
t<V">"i  (28,  10),  and  on  all  of  Exodus  and  Leviticus.  Samuel 
b.  Hophni  continued  the  work  by  commenting  upon  Genesis 
from  XVI  to  the  end,  all  of  Numbers,  and  Deuteronomy 
from  the  beginning  to  the  section  D''D21tJ'  (16,  18)  ;*  while 
the  rest  of  Deuteronomy  was  done  by  Saadia's  famous 
adversary  Aaron  Sarjadah  (see  above,  note  241).  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  of  all  the  fragments  of  the  Penta- 
teuch commentary  enumerated  in  our  Bibliography  (pp.  311- 
315)  only  the  one  under  letter  q  may  now  have  to  be  assigned 
to  Samuel  b.  Hophni. 

3.  Dosa  actually  became  Gaon  of  Sura  (see  above,  note 
281),  but  not  until  1013,  when  he  was  over  eighty  years  old. 
He  died  in  1017,  four  years  after  his  succession  to  the  Gaon- 
ate, at  the  age  of  about  87-89  years.  This  fully  substanti- 
ates our  suggestions  above,  notes  13-14,  290. 

4.  Samuel  b.  Hophni  did  not  die  in  1034,  as,  following 
Abraham  Ibn  Daud,  has  heretofore  been  maintained,  but  in 
1013,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Dosa.  He  was  thus  not  the 
last  Gaon  of  Sura,  as  hitherto  generally  assumed.  Samuel's 
own  son,  Israel  (see  above,  p.  29,  note  13),  succeeded  Dosa 
in  1017.  He  died  in  1033,  which  may  have  been  the  cause  of 
Abraham  Ibn  Daud's  mistake  in  giving  the  year  1034  as  that 

*  The  part  of  Samuers  Commentary  on  Genesis  published  by  I. 
Israelsohn,  St.  Petersburg,  1886  (see  Steinschneider,  AL.,  p.  no,  no. 
15),  belongs  to  this  work. 


POSTSCRIPT  427 

of  the  death  of  Samuel  b.  Hophni,  through  confusion  of  the 
father  with  the  son.    Israel  was  succeeded  in  the  Sura  Gaon- 

ate  by  one  Azariah,  perhaps  Israel's  son,  who  died 

shortly  after,  and  was  succeeded  by  Isaac,  the  last  Gaon  of 
Sura.  Israel  survived  Hai  by  some  3'ears.  The  Sura  Gaon- 
ate  accordingly  lasted,  contrary  to  previous  assumptions, 
longer  than  that  of  Pumbedita.  The  new  material,  it  may  be 
added  in  passing,  fully  bears  out  my  conclusion  that  owing  to 
Dosa's  claims  to  the  Sura  Gaonate,  there  must  have  been 
much  strife  and  contention  between  Sura  and  Pumbedita 
prior  to  the  appointment  of  Samuel  b.  Hophni  (see  above, 
note  281). 

5.  Dosa  had  an  older  brother  by  the  name  of  Sheerit 
(comp.  above,  pp.  29,  56).  So  far  as  I  know  this  name  does 
not  occur  elsewhere  in  Jewish  literature.  The  title  'alluf 
(see  above,  p.  64)  is  added  to  his  name  in  the  list  of  his 
father's  writings  which  he  together  with  Dosa  composed  in 
953.    He  must  have  been  dead  when  Dosa  became  Gaon. 

As  to  the  works  enumerated  in  the  list,  they  will  all  be  found 
in  the  present  book  under  their  proper  headings.  Some  titles 
occurring  only  in  the  list  remain  obscure  and  require  further 
investigation.  Thus  it  is  not  clear  what  is  meant  by  \'0  ^'•XDD 
linin^K  IDI  ^^V  nn  (comp.  above,  p.  318)  or  by  3Nn!) 
.  .  .  ^Ktonx  (?)j;dJ^«  (comp.  above,  p.  400,  below).  The 
r«n^X  1«nTX,  l.  e.,  anthology,  is  probably  the  Arabic  title  of 
the  Poem  on  the  613  Precepts  (see  p.  330,  no.  2).  For  this 
Poem  on  the  613  Precepts  (see  p.  330,  no.  2).  For  this 
titlesee  Steinschneider,^L.,  p.  151.  The  n^^V^t?  2l3l  DKnD 
is  not  a  new  work,  as  thought  by  Dr.  Mann,  but  the  title  of 
the  introduction  to  the  Siddur,  which  circulated  also  as  a 
separate  work;  comp.  Neubauer,  Ben  Chananja,  VI,  552; 
Bacher,  RE  J.,  XXXIX,  206,  no.  7 :  above  p.  330.  The 
mny^N  'r\^^\>^y  the  'ano^^  riin^t?  yoi  3«nD,  and  y^oi  nfc^riD 
Vi^lJJ'^X  are  probably  identical  with  the  works  mentioned 
above,  pp.  352,  no.  5  ;  399  f.,  nos.  12,  13.  The  Commentary  on 
the  Sefer  Yezirah  is  here  called  nT-V  ni3^n  *T'DQn.  For 
the  nxK^xmsee  p.  323;  for  D^tODK^DH  n^«1  and  niD  nn« 
see  p.  396,  nos.  2,  3.  These  sections  of  the  commentary  were 
in  circulation  as  separate  books  and  hence  the  special  titles. 


428  SAADIA  GAON 

It  is  therefore  unnecessary  to  assume  with  Dr.  Mann  that 
they  were  the  titles  of  the  entire  second  halves  of  Exodus 
and  Leviticus,  respectively.  Indeed,  it  is  quite  improbable, 
as  in  that  case  there  was  no  reason  to  mention  them  as 
separate  books  immediately  after  having  mentioned  the  com- 
mentaries to  Exodus  and  Leviticus  in  their  entirety. 
Philadelphia,  January,  1921, 


ADDENDA 

Note  175 :  Comp.  also  Poznanski  in  A.  Schwarz's  Fest- 
schrift, Berlin,  191 7,  p.  473. 

Note  191 :  To  the  biographical  sketches  on  Saadia  should 
be  added  that  of  A.  Schwarz,  Jiidisches  Literaturblatt,  XXII 
(1893),  pp. 17  ff. 

Note  240:  The  name  Sarjadah  is  probably  not  of  x\rabic 
origin,  but  is  to  be  derived  from  the  Syriac  inD,  to  draw 
straight  lines  on  paper  or  parchment,  hence  xi^ilD,  a  w^ooden 
or  metal  ruler.  The  name  may  therefore  have  to  be  pro- 
nounced Surgada ;  comp.  Krauss  in  Schwarz's  Festschrift, 

p.  575- 

Note  645  :  For  Dunash  b.  Labrat's  relation  to  Saadia  see 
Forges  in  Kaufmann's  Gedenkbuch,  pp.  245-259. 

Fages  320,  below  (Eliezer  b.  Nathan),  and  323  (Hom- 
ilies) :  See  Michael,  Jahrhnch  der  Jiidisch-Literarischen 
Gesellschaft,  VI  ( 1906) ,  32. 

Pages  345,  no.  3,  and  348,  nos.  7-8:  See  Michael,  ibidem, 
P-  31- 


LIST  OF  ABBREVIATIONS 
A.  Initials 
AIE.  =  Abraham  Ibn  Ezra. 

AL.  =  Steinschneider,  Arabische  Literatur,  Frankfurt  a.  M.,  1902. 
CB.  =  Steinschneider,  Catalogus  Ubrorum  hebraeorum  in  BibV  y~ 

theca  Bodleiana. 
HB.  =  Steinschneider,   Hebraeische  Biblio graphic,   Berlin,   1858- 

1882. 
JE.  =  Jewish  Encyclopedia. 
]QR.=  Jezvish  Quarterly  Review,  London,  1889-1908. 
J QR.N.S.=^  Jewish   Quarterly   Review,   New  Series,    Philadelphia, 
1910-1921. 
KLO.  =  Poznanski,  The  Karaite  Literary   Opponents  of  Saadiah 
Gaon  (see  p.  380). 
MGWJ.  =  Monatsschrift  fiir  Geschichte  und  Wissenschaft  des  Juden- 
turns,  Breslau,  1851-1921. 
MJC.  =  Neubauer,  Medieval  Jewish  Chronicles,  Oxford,  1887-1895. 
MWJ.  =  Magazin  fiir  die   Wissenschaft  des  Judenthums,  Berlin, 
1874-1893. 
REJ.=  Revue  des  Etudes  Juives,  Paris,  1880-1921. 
Zf aW.  =  Die   Zeitschrift  fiir   die   alttestamentliche    Wissenschaft, 

Giessen,  1881-1921. 
Zf hB.  =  Zeitschrift  fiir  hebrdische  Bibliographic,  Frankfurt  a.  M., 
1896-1921. 

y"nDn  =  D^nyn  nnn  (see  note  190). 
i"nn  =  r:^ini  nn  nn  (see  note  32). 

B.  Abbreviated  Titles 
Bacher,  Anf'dnge,  see  note  22. 
Bornstein,  see  note  4. 
Dukes,  Beitrdge,  see  p.  328. 
Eppenstein,  Beitrdge,  see  note  6. 
Harkavy,  Zikron,  see  note  3,  beginning. 
Jellinek,  Beitrdge,  see  note  405. 
Lazarus,  see  note  194. 
Nathan,  see  note  192. 
Pinsker,  LikkUte,  see  note  3,  near  end. 
Sherira,  see  note  192. 

4-9 


INDEX  OF  AUTHORS 


[Numbers  in  heavy  type  refer  to  the  pages  of  the  text,  all  other  numbers 
refer  to  the  notes.] 


Aaron  b.  Elijah,  376. 
Aaron  b.  Jose  ha-Kohen,  314. 
Aaron  b.   Joseph   Ibn   Sarjadah 

(see   Sarjadah). 
Aaron  Ben  Meir    (grandson  of 

Ben  Meir),  175  (see  also  n. 

188). 
Aaron  b.   Meshullam  of   Lunel, 

624,  368. 
Aaron  b.   Moses  b.  Asher    (see 

Ben  Asher). 
Abarbanel      (see     Isaac     Abar- 

banel). 
Abdur-Rahman,  134. 
Abraham    (the    patriarch),    303, 

178,  179,   183,  415,  337. 
Abraham    (son   of    Ben   Meir), 

175. 

Abraham  Abulafia,  592,  622. 

Abraham  Bedersi,  578^,  313. 

Abraham  Ibn  Daud  (or  b. 
David),  9,  31,  86,  65,  192, 
228,  231,  240,  252,  271,  278, 
281,  292,  310,  390,  542,  268, 
591,  596,  607,  659,  361,  385, 
387,  432,  426. 

Abraham  Ibn  Ezra,  22,  35,  70,  85, 
299,  30s,  14:2.  144,  IS3,  436, 
485,  486,  502,  504,  364,  563, 
368,  273,  587,  278,  607,  285, 
616,  292,  312,  316,  321- 
323,  326,  361,  398.  399. 

Abraham  b.  Hiyya,  126,  190,  492, 
582,  350,  362,  369,  381, 
383,  387,  397- 

Abraham   [ha-Kohen],  57,  97. 

Abraham  ha-Kohen,  30,  13. 


Abraham   b.    Nathan    of    Lunel, 
639,  640. 

Abraham    al-Sairafi,    293,    402. 

Abravanel  (see  Isaac  Abar- 
banel). 

Abu  'AH  Hasan,  41. 

Abu-'I-Kasim,    100. 

Abu  Kathir  Yahya  al-Katib,  32, 
35,  33^  36,  66,  129,  304,  425. 

Abu   Jusuf   Ja'kub   al-Kirkisani, 
138,  511,  385,  406. 

Abu-'l-Surri   Ben   Zuta,  70,   563, 
385,  398. 

Ackermann,  A.,  543. 

Adam,  337. 

Adler,  Cyrus,  179,  392. 

Adler,  Elkan  N.,  399,  412,  417, 

419. 

Aha  of  Shabbeha,  53,  272,  573- 

Ahiah,  198. 

'Akiba(  teacher  of  the  Mishnah), 

8.  107,  489'. 
Alemano      (see     Johanan     Alc- 

mano). 
Al-Fergani,  37. 
Al-Kahir,  117,  118. 
Al-Mahdi  (see  'Ubaid  Allah). 
Al-Ma'mun,  100,  103. 
Al-Mansur,  72. 
Al-Mas'udi  (see  Mas'udi). 
Al-Mu'izz,  38,  72. 
Al-Muktadir,  116,  117. 
Al-Mu'tadid,  237. 
Al-Nadim   (see  Muhammed  Al- 

Nadim). 
Al-Radi,  118,  124. 

431 


432 


SAADIA  GAON 


Al-Shafi'i,  2,y, 

Al-Tabbari,  37. 

Al-Ya'akubi,  37. 

'AH  (Caliph),  99. 

'AH  b.  'Isa,  117,  124. 

'AH  b.  Judah  ha-Nazir  (see  Ju- 

dah  Abu  'AH). 
Amoraim,  71,  97,  207, 
Amram  (of  Pumbedita),  126. 
Amram  Gaon,  51,  147,  272,  573- 
Amram,  Natan,  368. 
z^nan    b.    David     (founder    of 
Karaism),  34,  46,  53,  58, 
loi,  198,  467,  223,  Sii,  515, 
261,  263,  264,  380. 
'Ananiah,  239. 
Anatomy,  Books  of,  467, 
Anaximenes,  181. 
Antiochus  Epiphanes,  173. 
Aptowitzer,  Victor,  327,  343. 
Aquila,  315. 

Aristotle,   397,    180,    183,    184. 
198,    202,    223,    499,    278, 
405. 
Armilus,  230. 
Arsacids,  94. 
'Ash'arites,  515. 
Ashi  (Amora),  100,  loi. 
Azariah,  242. 
Azariah  Gaon,  427. 
Azulai,  H.  J.  D.,  362,  301,  660, 

340,  342,  346,  348. 
Bacher,  W.,  3,  22,  34,  2^,  40,  42, 
43,  55,  45,  61,  62,  63,  64, 
83,  99,  129,  130,  131,  191, 
198,  202,  203,  295,  297,  299, 
303,  308,  310-313,  315,  359, 
366,  392,  394,  417,  418,  425, 
461,  473,  515,  519,  530,  570, 
587,  589,  607,  614,  645,  306- 
311,  314-325,  328,  336. 
339-341,  343,  352-354, 
359,  360,  364,  366,  373, 
378,  384,  385,  387-390, 
392,  395,  396,  399-401, 
407,   409,   427. 


Baer,  S.,  399. 

Baethgen,  Friedrich,  179. 

Bahya  b.  Asher,  485. 

Bahya   Ibn   Pakudah,   154,   344, 

578,  278,  362. 
Bamberger,  M.  L.,  321. 
Bar-Satia  (see  Joseph  b.  Jacob). 
Barahima  (Brahmans),  209, 
Bardowicz,  L.,  53,  307,  334,  357, 

606,  309,  327,  405. 
Barges,  J.  J.  L.,  52,  452. 
Baron,  S.,  319. 
Barrasch,  Julius,  375,  376. 
Ben  Asher,  66,  399. 
Ben  Meir,  10,  4,  18,  94,  63,  64, 
121,    123,    126,    65,    66,    69, 
139,    140,   72,    148,    151,   73, 
74,  77,  78,  79,  158,  159,  80, 
81,  168,  82,  169,  83,  175,  84, 
176,   85,    179,    180,   182,   86, 
183,  87,   188,  89,   90,   114, 
158,   168,   169,   352,  409- 
419,  422,  423. 
Ben  Meir,  sons  of,  83,  108,  175, 

188,  410,  411. 
Ben-Seeb,  Judah  Lob,  367,  370, 

371,  376. 
Ben  Zuta  (see  Abu-'l-Surri). 
Benamosegh,  Elia,  324. 
Bender,  A.  P.,  509*. 
Benjacob,  Isaac,  362,  307,  308, 

339,  346,  34^,  367,  408. 
Benjamin  b.  Judah,  326,  327. 
Benjamin  Nahawandi,  198,  467, 

227. 
Benjamin  of  Tudela,  171,  278. 
Berechiah  ha-Nakdan,  420,  503, 
607,  288,  632,  289,  636,  312, 
358,  359,  361-367,  369. 
Berger,  H.,  327. 
Berliner,  A.,  652,  653,  6S5,  3o6, 

331,  3S4y  351,  352,  395- 
Bernfeld,  S.,  191,  378. 
Bernstein,  Bela,  485. 
Bezalel  Ashkenazi,  342. 


INDEX  OF  AUTHORS 


433 


Bishr  b.  Aaron,  257,  121-125, 
266. 

Bisliches,  M.  L.,  366. 

Blau,  L.,  45,  346,  348,  339. 

Bloch,  Philipp,  373,  374,  378. 

Bloch,  Samson,  593. 

Bodenheimer,  L.,  310. 

Bondi,  J.,  2,22,,  326,  342,  320,  32B,, 
329,   3SA' 

Bonilla,  Adolfo,  499,  503- 

Bornstein,  H.  J.,  4,  5,  10,  15,  18, 
49,  53,  87,  107,  119,  120,  121, 
122,  123,  125,  132,  139,  141- 
144,  146,  149-152,  154,  155, 
15S-160,  167-169,  174-184, 
186,  188,  625,  352,  354,  410- 

419- 

Bostanai,  96. 

Boswell,  90. 

Brann,  M.,  379. 

Breithaupt,  D.  Chr.,  317. 

Brill,  J.,  515,  365. 

Brockelmann,  Carl,  34,  27y  102. 

Brody,  H.,  331,  339. 

Broyde,  L,  399,  417. 

Briill,  N.,  8,  55,  212,  271,  315,  417, 

436,  327,  377. 
Euber,  S.,  4,  151,  620,  629,  307, 

308,  363,  408. 
Buxtorf,  J.,  339. 
Carlyle,  J.  D.,  309. 
Carmoli,  E.,  191. 
Carra  de  Vaux,  20,  278. 
Cassell,  David,  640. 
Cassel,  Selig,  281. 
Chapira,  Bernard,  392-394. 
Chosru  II,  99. 
Christian  dogmas,  210,  231. 
Christianity,  206,  209,  210,  367, 

371. 

Cohen,  Solomon  Solis,  337. 
Cohn,  J.,  576,  320,  321,  328. 
Coronel,  N.,  483. 

Cowley,  A.  E.,  3,  2^,  308,  311, 
329,  338,  344,  345,   347, 


350,   356,   359.   360,    397, 
401-404,  406,  417. 

Dahriyya,  i8o,  203. 

Daniel,  prophet,  233,  242. 

Daniel  Al-Kumisi,  46,  387,  385, 

399- 

Dassow,  Theodor,  373. 

David,  King,  411,  324. 

David,  house  of,  95,  96,  228, 
230. 

David  b.  Abraham,  55,  56,  100. 

David  Kimhi,  22,  316,  324. 

David  Ibn  Merwan  al-Mukam- 
mis,  33,  22,,  67,  134,  135,  68. 

David  b.  Zakkai,  9,  9,  82,  198, 
103,  104,  106-111,  231, 
238,  114,  115,  117,  118, 
262,265,  122-124,  127,  128, 
283,  169,  177.  496,  269,  270, 
293,  393. 

Davidson,  J.,  3,  173,  332,  518,  547, 
565,  652,  385-387. 

De  Goeje,  J.  M.,  20. 

Deinard,  E.,  406. 

Delitzsch,  Franz,  592",  365,  376. 

Delmedigo  (see  Joseph  Solomon 
Delmedigo). 

Democritus,  181. 

Derenbourg,  Hart  wig,  309,  317, 
321,  323. 

Derenbourg,  Joseph  (previous 
German  spelling  Derenburg 
and  Dernburg),  293,  348-3S1, 
417,  451,  461,  583,  309,  314, 
316,  317,  320,  321,  324, 
332,  339,  340,  341,  356, 
406,    409. 

Derenburg  (see  Derenbourg  Jo- 
seph). 

Dieterici,  F.,  207. 

Dillmann,  August,   171. 

Dines,  J.,  526,  371. 

Donath,  L.,  327. 

Dosa  (son  of  Saadia),  13,  29, 
30,  14,  281,  132,  289,  290, 
134.    161,    421,   426,   427. 


434 


SAADIA  GAON 


Dukes,  L.,  22,  84,  8s,  191,  307, 
311-313,  344,  359,  422,  452, 
499,  584,  594,  595,  607,  622, 
307,  318,  325,  328,  SS3, 
335»  341,  345,  356,  361, 
400,   405,   408. 

Dunash  b.  Labrat  (Librat),  299, 
292,    321,    S^S,   399,    428. 

Dunash  Ibn  Tamim,  48,  49,  84, 
403,  450,  607,  291,  543- 

Ebjatar,  194. 

Edelmann,  H.,  596,  385. 

Egers,  Jacob,  327. 

Eisenstadter,  W.,  406,  407. 

Eisler,  M.,  377- 

Elbogen,  Ismar,  320,  321,  335, 
330,  338,   339,   406. 

Eldad  ha-Dani,  84,  I94- 

Eleazar  the  priest,  277. 

Eleazar  b.  Eleazar,  406. 

Eleazar  Kalir,  13,  4i,  44,  50, 
139,  332,  153,  154,  272, 
289,  299,  300,  361. 

Eleazar  of  Worms,  491,  578\ 
286,  622,  359,  363. 

Eliezer    (Bible),  297. 

Eliezer    Ashkenazi,    614,    366. 

Eliezer  b.  Hyrcanos,  366. 

Eliezer  b.  Jacob,  366. 

EHezer  b.  Nathan,  418,  287,  320, 
428. 

Elijah  (prophet),  82,  233,  242. 

Elijah  Levita,  339,  340,  341. 

Elijah  of  Nisibis,  179. 

Elisha,  prophet,  233,  242. 

Emden,  Jacob,  367. 

Empedocles,  511. 

Engelkemper,  W.,  3,  191,  254, 
278,  309,  328,  374. 

Eppenstein,  S.,  6,  15,  98,  107,  122, 
126,  191,  293,  295,  306,  316, 

318,  361,  366,  370,  276,  387. 
396,  558,  576,  308,  311,  316, 

319,  320,   326,   328,   336, 
341,   343,    347,   349,   35©, 


377,   381,   385,    389,   399, 
401,    411,    413,    415,   416. 

Epstein,  A.,  15,  84,  87,  122,  126, 
145,  148,  151,  153,  154,  157, 
161,  163,  165,  166,  168,  177, 
178,  180,  436,  437,  502,  618, 
^27,  356,  357,  359,  403, 
410,   419. 

Epstein,  J.  N.,  360,  364,  365,  422, 
518,  590,  597,  332,  S4Sy  344. 

Erernalists,  180,  203,  204. 

Evil-merodach,  93. 

Ewald,  H.,  85,  305,  307,  318, 
321,  328. 

Ezekiel,  prophet,  233, 

Fahr  ai-Din  Razi,  516. 

Fiiipofski,  4,  581,  582,  387. 

Firkovich,    Abraham,    139,    306, 

387,  394. 

Firkovich,  Samuel,  394. 

Frankel,  D,,  325. 

Fraenkel,    S.,    317,    3^3^    329, 

354. 
Franciscans,  Order  of,  655. 
Frankel,  Z.,  350. 
Frankl,  P.  F.,  3- 
Frat  Maimon,  369. 
Freimann,  J.,  350. 
Fried,  M.,  310. 

Friedlander,  Israel,  33,  237,  345. 
Friedlander,  M.,   191,  485,  398, 

412. 
Friedmann,  M.,  491. 
Frumkin,  L.,  332,  334,  335. 
Fuchs,  S.,  324,  344. 
Fiinn,  S.  J.,  191. 
Fiirst,    Julius,    262,    339,    371, 

372,  374. 
Fukaha',  2)7- 

Gagnier,  John,  360,  373. 
Galen,  532,  278. 
Galle,  A.  F.,  326. 
Galliner,  S.,  311,  319. 
Gaster,  M.,  332,  355,  386. 
Gauss,  K.  F.,  412. 
Gedaliah,  fast  of,  338. 


INDEX  OF  AUTHORS 


435 


Gedaliah  Ibn  Yahya,  351. 

Geiger,  A.,  22,  34,  69,  191,  238, 
242,  246,  300,  311,  315,  436, 
472,  48s,  617,  622,  626,  307, 
321,  328,  376,  379,  387, 
409. 

Geonim,  97,  98,  207,  99-102, 
214,  103,  104,  106,  109, 
256,  131,  133,  153,  158, 
165,  483,  261,  272,  280, 
411,  412,   415. 

Gershom,  Rabbenu,  619. 

Gesenius,  W.,  328. 

Ginsburg,  Chr.  D.,  339,  341. 

Ginsburg,  I,,   191. 

Ginzberg,  L.,  13,  48,  50,  51,  79, 
82,  122,  125,  147,  173,  192,  194, 
200,  202,  207,  208,  211,  219- 
222,  224,  227-229,  237,  241, 
273,  290,   319-322,   324,   355, 

358,  359,  365,  37^,  Z77,  500. 
523,  573-575,  327,  342-345, 
351,  355. 

Ginzel,  F.  K.,  141,  144,  I45,  151, 
152,  164. 

Goettsberger,  Johannes,  321. 

Goldberg,  B,  583. 

Goldziher,  Ignatz,  35,  129,  137, 
441.  479,  502,  S03,  515,  516, 
541*,  643,  657,  659,  344,  360, 
373,  385. 

Gollancz,  H.,  632,  633,  636,  362, 
365. 

Gorfinkle,  Joseph  I.,  479,  541'. 

Gottheil,  R.,  70. 

Graetz,  H.,  72,  %y,  130,  134,  190, 
191,  208-211,  215,  222,  224, 
226,  233,  240,  241,  253,  254, 
256,  257,  266,  281,  283,  293, 

359,  471,  483,  642,  643,  328, 
330,  371,  377,  385. 

Gieenberg,  W.  H.,  351. 
Grossberg,  M.,  7^,  84. 
Griinhut,  L.,  4,  327,  347,  404. 
Gfinzburg,  David  de,  342. 
Giinzig,  I.,  502. 


Guillaume,  A.,  168,  411,  414, 
415,  418. 

Gurland,  H.  J.,  306,  394. 

Guttmann,  Jacob,  35,  71,  77,  310', 
391,  399,  404,  412,  416,  440, 
459,  463,  465,  472,  472%  473, 
475,  476,  478,  479,  483,  488, 
497,  503,  505,  513,  515,  524, 
530-535,  540,  541%  542,  544, 
578,  607,  362,  364,  369,  370, 
373,   375,  377,   385. 

Hadassi  (see  Judah  Hadassi). 

Hai  Gaon,  2,  13,  281,  130,  283, 
131,  365,  578,  277,  589,  278, 
285,  614,  629,  291,  343, 
344,  366,   408,  427. 

Halaf,  240. 

Hai  b.   David,   424. 

Hai  b.  Nahshon,  424. 

Halberstam,  S.  J.,  137,  151,  2>'27, 

401,  402,  485,  623,  631,  313, 
327,  334,  336,  351,  359, 
383,  408. 

Halevy,  I.,  351. 

Hamza  al-'Isfahani,  133. 

Hananel  b.  Hushiel  of  Kairwan, 
485,  291,  643- 

Hananiah   (Bible),  242. 

Hananiah  b.  Judah,  239,  126. 

Haneberg,  D.,  315,  319,  328, 
400. 

Hanina  b.  Dosa,  31,  230,  659. 

Harkavy,  A.,  3,  4,  8,  9,  18,  22,  23, 
34,  35,  39,  40,  41,  45,  47, 
54,  55,  59,  78,  80,  81,  83,  84, 
122,  134,  135,  138,  139,  177, 
191,  207,  230,  234,  237-241, 
246,  249-252,  258,  265,  267, 
293,  297,  299,  308,  334,  371, 

402,  412%  448,  483,  499,  511, 
515,  617,  647,  648%  649,  650, 
306,  307,  313-317,  33^, 
339,  342,  344-350,  354, 
356,  377,  381-383,  385, 
388-394,  398,  403,  405, 
406,  411-413,  417. 


43^' 


SAADIA  GAON 


Hasmoneans,  173,  355. 

Hayawaihi  (Hiwi),  3,  zz^,  153, 
387,  198,  466,  210,  211, 
483,  495,  267,  268,  384- 
386. 

Hayyim  Vital,  660. 

Heilberg,  S.  L.,  335. 

Heisz,  A.,  318. 

Heller,  B.,  320,  328. 

Henkel,  Gregory,  191,  378. 

Heraclitus,  181. 

Hirsch  Fischl,  370. 

Hirschfeld,  H.,  134,  135,  159,  241, 
293,  547,  550,  553,  555,  558, 
577,  311,  313-316,  318, 
325,  345-347,  355,  360, 
369,  375,  380-385,  400, 
401,  406,  415-418. 

Hisda  (Amora),  100. 

Hisdai  Ibn  Shaprut,  134. 

Hiskiah,  Exilarch,  283. 

Hiwi    (see  Hayawaihi). 

Hiyya,  Amora,  354. 

Hoffmann,  David,  357,  342. 

Hofmann,  Theodor,  319. 

Honein  b.  'Ishak,  304,  532. 

Horovitz,  S.,  4I2^  440,  441,  447, 
458%  471,  483,  497,  499,  502- 
506,  524,  344,  373,  378. 

Horowitz,  Ch.  M.,  656,  364,  366. 

Huram    (King),  293. 

Hurwitz,  S.,  623,  351. 

Hushai  the  Arkite,  660. 

Husik,  Isaac,  379. 

Ibn  'Aknin  (see  Joseph  b.  Judah 
Ibn  Aknin). 

Ibn  Bal'am  (see  Judah  Ibn 
Bal'am). 

Ibn  Ephraim,  292. 

Ibn  Gabirol  (see  Solomon  Ibn 
Gabirol). 

Ibn   Ganah    (see  Jona   Ibn   Ga- 

nah). 
Ibn  Gau,  brothers,  281. 


Ibn    Gikatillah    (see   Moses   Ibn 

Gikatillah). 
Ibn  Hazm,  sz,  33,   134. 
Ibn    Nahmias    (see   Joseph    Ibn 

Nahmias). 
Ibn   Parhon    (see   Solomon   Ibn 

Parhon). 
Ibn  Saddik  (see  Joseph  Ibn  Sad- 

dik). 
Ibn  Sakawaihi  (see  Sakawaihi). 
Ibn  Tibbon  (see  Judah  Ibn  Tib- 

bon). 
Immanuel  b.  Solomon  of  Rome, 

607. 
Isaac,  patriarch,  242. 
Isaac  (scribe),  369. 
Isaac  Abarbanel,  18,  399. 
Isaac  Alfasi,  291. 
Isaac  Gaon,  396. 
Isaac    b.    Baruk    Ibn    al-Baliya, 

276. 
Isaac  b.  Israel    ( ?)    Gaon,  427. 
Isaac  Israeli,  2)7,  44,  47,  72,  49,. 

50,  51,  84,  403,  374. 
Isaac  b.  Natira,  237. 
Isaac  b.    Reuben   of    Barcelona, 

396. 
Isaac  b.  Samuel  ha-Sefardi,  313. 
Isaiah,  prophet,  233. 
Isidore  of  Seville,  503,  504. 
Ishmael    (teacher  of   the   Mish- 

nah),   159. 
Israel  (son  of  Samuel  b.  Hoph- 

ni),  13,  426,  427. 
Israel  ha-Levi,  371. 
Tsraelsohn,   I.,  638,   426. 
Izhakovitch,  Jacob,  338. 
Jacob  b.  Asher,  369,  351. 
Jacob  b.  Ephraim,  293. 
Jacob  b.  Hayyim  Ferussol,  369. 
Jacob  d'lllescas,  314. 
Jacob  b.  Natronai  Gaon,  106. 
Jacob  b.  Nissim,  291. 
Jacob  b.  Reuben,  289,  368. 


INDEX  OF  AUTHORS 


437 


Jacob  b.   Samuel,  292. 
Jacob  Tarn,  186,  287. 
Jacobs,  Joseph,  62,Z- 
Jastrow,  M.,  Jr.,  328, 
Jedaiah  Bedersi  (or  ha-Penini), 

48s,  280,  397. 
Jehiel  Heilprin,  278. 
Jehiel  Melli,  331. 
Jehoiachin  (King),  93,  193,  194. 
Jellinek,    Adolf,    194,    405,    435. 

482,  592,  622,  356,  365,  370, 
404. 

Jephet  b.  'AH,  293,  323,  380, 

381. 
Jeshu'ah  b.  Judah,  346. 
Jesus,  206,  209,  298. 
Job,  219. 

Joel,  David,  524,  379. 
Joel,  M.,  191,  377. 
Johanan  Alemano,  532. 
Jonah  Ibn  Ganah,  432,  273,  578, 

277,  3^4- 
Jose  b.  Jose,  44,  50,  139.  I49> 

Jose  Al-Nahrawani,  151. 
Joseph   (father  of  Saadia),  27, 

3,  122. 
Joseph  b.  Judah  Ibn  'Aknin,  241, 

279,  321. 

Joseph  b.  Jacob  Bar-Satia,  iii, 
234,  117,  256,  26s,  124,  128, 

280,  129. 

Joseph    Bekor-Shor,    626,    287, 

341. 

Joseph  Solomon  Delmedigo,  622. 

Joseph  Kara,  287. 

Joseph   Kimhi,   325,   340. 

Joseph  Kohen,  41. 

Joseph  Ibn  Nahmias,  321,  325. 

Joseph  Ibn  Saddik  (or  Siddik), 

483,  502." 

Joseph  Ibn  Yahya,  578". 
Joshua    (Masorite),  44,  55. 
Josiah  Hassan,  iii,  118. 
Josipon   (Book  of),  84. 


Jost,  M.,  34. 

Judah,  the  Patriarch,   107,   173, 

354. 

Judah  Abu  'Alan  ha-Tabbarani 
(see  Judah  Abu  'Ali). 

Judah  Abii  'Ali  (or  b.  'Alan) 
ha-Nazir,  S3,  ^^,  35,  36,  129. 

Judah  Ibn  Bal'am,  22,  172,  277, 
584,   353,   607. 

Judah  b.  Barzillai,  67,  401,  402, 
418,  420,  421,  423,  427-432, 
438,  447,  485,  561,  284,  288, 
291,  311-313,  320,  346, 
351,  356-359,  383-386, 
405. 

Judah,  son  of  David  b.  Zakkai, 
no,  127. 

Judah  Hadassi,  22,  35. 

Judah  Halaz,  491,  493,  363,  368. 

Judah  Halevi,  472,  369. 

Judah  al-Harizi,  171,  578". 

Judah  he-Hasid,  491,  592,  285, 
286,  289,  296,  651,  363. 

Judah  Hayyug,    409, 

Judah  b.  Ilai,  85. 

Judah  al-Iskandarani,  264. 

Judah  Moscato,  578'',  622. 

Judah  Mosconi,  368. 

Judah  Perez,  403. 

Judah    (b.    Joseph)    of    Rakka, 

Z7,  77- 

Judah  Saraval,  404. 

Judah  Ibn  Tibbon,  84,  455,  484, 
491,  537,  540,  583,  289,  360, 
361,  363-376,  385. 

Kabbalists,  229,  622,  660. 

Kahana  (see  Kohn,  D.). 

Kahle,  Paul,  309,  310,  321. 

Kaleb,  240, 

Kalir   (see  Eleazar  Kalir). 

Kaminka,  A.,  191,  350,  374. 

Karaites,  3,  Z4,  35,  32-34,  45, 
46,  70,  58,  59,  123,  66,  138, 
114,  251,  137,  146,  158, 
357,     163,     167-171,     173, 


438 


SAADIA  GAON 


197,  198,  223,  261-267, 
293,  294,  380-384,  398- 
402. 

Kaufmann,  David,  305,  315,  418, 
422,  447,  456,  478,  483,  506, 
524,  542,  356,  358,  372,  377, 
383,  398,  405. 

Kimhi    (see   David   and   Joseph 

'  Kimhi). 

Kirchheim,  R.,  583,  599,  606,  648, 
327,  358,  368. 

Kirkisani  (see  Abu  Jusuf  Ja'kub 
al-Kirkisani). 

Klein,  Deszo,  318. 

KnoUer,  L.,  379. 

Koch,  S.,  191. 

Kohen  Zedek  Gaon,  215,  103, 
106,  108,  231,  109,  no, 
112,  238,  256,  123,  126, 
130. 

Kohen-Zedek,  Joseph,  346. 

Kohn,   b.,    191,   485,   306,    387, 

394. 

Kohut,    Alexander,    329,    33Z, 

334. 

Kohut,  G.  A.,  652. 

Kramer,  J.,  380. 

Krochmal,  Abraham,   194. 

Krauss,  S.,  87,  438. 

Lagarde,  Paul  de,  311. 

Lambert,  M.,  52,  56,  57,  61,  151, 
404,  422,  424,  426,  427,  440, 
443,  449,  609,  632,  317,  320, 
340,  349,  356-358,  384, 
391,  393. 

Landau,   S.,  327. 

Landauer,  S.,  67,  305,  3o6,  455% 
484,  498,  514,  530,  360,  362, 
365,  367,  369,  372,  374, 
384. 

Landshuth,  L.,  335,  338,  341,  343, 
344,  599,  331,  ZS3,  334- 

Lauterbach,  J.  Z.,  319. 

Lazarus  Felix,  194-205,  216-218, 
259. 


Lehmann,  S.,  319. 

Leucippus,  181. 

Levi,  Israel,  15,  355,  362,  412, 

414. 

Levinsohn,  Isaac  Baer,  373. 

Levy,  Jacob,  281. 

Lewi  b.  Jephet,  22. 

Lewin,  B.,  281,  394. 

Loeb,  Isidore,  368. 

Loevy,  Jacob,  315,  322. 

Loewe,  L.,  372. 

Loewenthal,  A.,  532. 

Luzzatto,  S.  D.,  281,  344,  485, 
502.  581,  607.  322,  331-334, 
340,  383,  399. 

Maimonides,  18,  241,  133,  146, 
153,  176,  399,  416,  446,  450. 
472%  473,  479,  483,  484,  485, 
494,  515,  541%  273,  578,  578% 
279,  285,  321,  368. 

Malka  Gaon,  105. 

Malter,  H.,  22,  Z7,  191,  252,  264, 
297,  298,  344,  434,  436,  450, 
483,  494,  SOI,  505,  507,  509, 
522,  524,  540,  541%  557,  568, 
592%  650,  325,  352,  355, 
379,  389,  392,  408. 

Manasseh   (King),  219. 

Mann,  J.,  11,  17%  281,  286,  355, 
421,  423,  427,  428. 

Margoliouth,  D.  S.,  3,  82,  246', 
248,  249,  570,  390. 

Margoliouth,  G.,  281,  313,  316. 

Margulies,  S.  H.,  319,  372. 

Markon,  J.,  346. 

Marmorstein,  A.,  13. 

Marx,  A.,  151,  192,  227,  281,  346, 
394,    592,    659%    336,    342, 

354. 

Mashallah,  jy. 

Alasorites,    52,    43,    44,    55,    66, 

Masudi,  3,  32,   35,  36,  Zl.  77, 

126,  129,  250,  254,  268,  278. 
Mathews,  H.  J.,  326,  327. 


INDEX  OF  AUTHORS 


439 


Mattathiah  the  Hasmonean,  270. 

Mebasser,  %2. 

Meir  (teacher  of  the  Mishnah), 

8,  107. 
Meir  (b,  Todros  ha-Levi)  Abu- 

lafia,  365,  368. 
Meir  ha-Kohen,  348. 
Meir  (b.  Bariik)  of  Rothenburg, 

408. 
Men  of  Africa,  49,  50. 
Men  of  Kairwan,  49. 
Menahem,  pupil  of  Saadia,  293. 
Menahem  b.  Judah,  369. 
Menahem  Meiri,  192,  280,  607. 
Menahem  b.  Saruk,  276,  292. 
Menahem  b.  Solomon,  151. 
Mendelssohn,  Moses,  142. 
Merx,    Adalbert,    306,    314,    315. 

322,  323,  328. 
Messiah,  232,  230,  265. 
Michael,  H.,  363,  428. 
Midrash,  164,  186,  197,  223. 
Mieses,  Josef,  309. 
Mirsky,  H.,  191. 
Mishael,  242. 
Mishnah,   161,   164,    165,    178, 

181,  197,  270,  382. 
Morali,  Isaac,  407. 
Mortara,  Marco,  485. 
Moses,  59,  195,  209,  242,  246, 

277,  337. 
Moses  Botarel,  669*,  404. 
Moses    Darshan    of    Narbonne, 

286,  288. 
Moses  Ibn  Ezra,  3,  530,  264,  278, 

400,  401. 
Moses  Ibn  Gikatillah,  577. 
Moses  Ibn  Habib,  485,  607. 
Moses    b,    Hisdai     (see    Moses 

Tachau). 
Moses  b.  Isaac,  424. 
Moses  b.  Jacob,  51. 
Moses  b.  Joseph  of  Lucena,  437, 

288,  631,  632,  356,  358. 
Moses  b.  Maimon  (see  Maimon- 

ides). 


Moses  b.  Nahman  (see  Nahman- 
ides), 

Moses  Rieti,  281. 

Moses  Tachau,  438,  509",  281- 
285,  597,  603,  606,  607,  609, 
614,  616,  289,  351,  358, 
368. 

Moses  de  Trani,  363,  366. 

Mubashshir,  50,  82,  324,  345, 
388,  394. 

Mubashshir  Gaon,  104,  126. 

A-Iueller,  August,  100,  545. 

Ajueller,  Joel,  3,  121,  324,  329, 
331,  357,  374,  Z7^,  380,  518, 
548,  624,  538,  326,  330,  335, 
342,  344,  347-351,  406. 

Muhammed,  99,  209. 

Muhammed  Ibn  Ishak  al-Nadim, 
352,   389,   400. 

Muhammedans,  142,  145,  470, 
209,  511,  515,  545. 

Mukammis  (see  David  al-Mu- 
kammis). 

Muller,  J.  P.,  378. 

Munk,  S.,  34,  191,  291,  308,  311, 
315,  416,  446,  450,  483,  485, 
520,  586,  317,  328,  360, 
375,   376,   400,   404. 

Musical   tones,    259,   323,   369. 

Mutakallimun,  33,  2>2>,  279,  280, 
S9^\  378. 

Mu'tazilites,  202,  483,  515. 

Nacht,  Jacob,  620. 

Nahmanides,   577,   348. 

Nahrawani,  50,  51. 

Nashon  Gaon,  51,  272,  574. 

Nahum    (Exilarch),  198. 

Nahum  b.  Abraham,  41. 

Nahum  ha-Ma'arabi,  159. 

Nathan    ('Alluf),  106. 

Nathan  ha-Babli,  9,  147,  192. 
223,  224,  227,  231,  235-237, 
240,  244,  251,  253,  256,  257, 
265,  266,  268. 

Nathan  b.  Isaac  al-Sikili,  380. 


440 


SAADIA  GAON 


Nathan  b.  Jehiel  of  Rome,  286, 
288,  658. 

Nathansohn,  B.,  373. 

Nathanel  Caspi,  653,  369. 

Natira,  iii,  237,  293,  647. 

Natira,  sons  of,  237,  290. 

Natronai  I,  103,  229. 

Natronai  b.  Hilai,  51,  321. 

Nehunyon,  198. 

Neubauer,  A.,  10,  88,  124,  177, 
192,  194,  219,  227,  228,  231, 
252,  281,  323,  396%  448,  618, 
307-309,    311,    317,    318, 

325,  329,  330,  sis,  336, 

338,  339,  340,  344,  345, 

347,  353,  356,  359,  360, 

385,  387,  388,  397,  404, 

406,  409,  412,  413,  422, 
427. 

Neumark,  D.,  281,  478,  497,  503, 

522,    325,    378. 

Nissi  Nahrawani,  108,  243,  123. 

Nissim  b.  Jacob,  8,  291,  643,  384. 

Noah,  242,  337. 

Onkelos,  144,  198. 

Paulus,  H.  J.  G.,  317. 

Payyetanim,  139,  151,  361. 

Peritz,  M.,  300,  323,  324. 

Perl,  Jeroham  Fischel,  330. 

Pethahiah  of  Ratisbon,  359,  642. 

Philipp,  S.,  408. 

Philo,  175,  264. 

Phinehas    (Masorite),  44,  55. 

Phinehas  b.  Jair,  660. 

Pinsker,  S.,  3,  22,  23,  34,  35, 
69,  178,  550. 

Plato,  181,  198,  490%  506,  532. 

Pococke,  Edward,  309. 

Porges,  N.,  306,  361,  362,  387- 
389,  428. 

Posnanski,  Adolf,  368. 

Poznanski,  S.,  13,  14,  19,  22,  26, 
39,  68,  70,  74,  78,  79,  96,  97, 
loi,  122,  125,  126,  132,  133, 
134,  138,  143,  149,  175,  179, 
181,   190,   192,  213,  224,  241, 


265,  27Z,  283,  289,  290-292, 
307,  308,  315,  357,  361,  364, 
387,  392,  511,  521,  549,  552, 
554,  626,  646,  649,  659,  306, 
308-311,  315-318,  320- 
327,  340-350,  352,  353, 
380-386,  399-406,  408, 
413,   417,   419,   428. 

Pythagoras,  181,  511- 

Rab,  Amora,  98,  354. 

Rabinowitz,  L.,  327,  404. 

Rabinowitz,  S.  P.,  191,  377. 

Rapoport,  S.  J.  L.,  9,  34,  84, 
107,  190,  191,  271,  278,  Z2>^, 
485,  576,  591,  617,  625,  627- 
629,  643,  322,  326,  335, 
341,  346,  348,  353,  363, 
371,  381,  385,  404. 

Rashi,    18,  303,   502,   286,    287, 

331,  395. 

Ratner,  B.,   193. 

Ran,  David,  378. 

Reggio,  I.  S.,  485,  607. 

Reider,  Joseph,  312,  315. 

Reifmann,  Jacob,  617. 

Reinach,  Theodore,  44,  45. 

Renan,  Ernest,  3,  593,  369. 

Revel,  B.,  554,  403. 

Rieger,  P.,  648. 

Romulus,  230. 

Rosenberg,    J.,    617,    331,    332, 

334,  343. 

Rosin,  D.,  63,  379. 
Rossi,  G.  B.  de,  376,  408. 
Saadia,  brothers  of,  132. 
Saadia,  daughters  of,  132. 
Saadia,  sons  of,  132. 
Saadia  Bekor-Shor,  340. 
Saadia  Ibn  Danan,  192,  596,  385. 
Saadia  b.  Nahamani,  297. 
Saboraim,  97,  98,  99. 
Sachs,  Michael,  334,  33i. 
Sachs,  Senior,  52,  452,  306,  ^34' 
Sahl  b.  Mazliah,  3,  178,  181. 
Sahl  b.  Natira,  237,  293. 
Sa'id  b.  'AH  Ibn    t^^Q^t^'^,  77- 


INDEX  OF  AUTHORS 


441 


Sakawaihi,  264,  267,  349,  382- 
384,  401. 

Sakuya  (see  Sakawaihi). 

Salfeld,  S.,  322,  323. 

Salmon  b.  Jeroham,  32,  502,  325. 

Salomon,  Johann,  367,  374. 

Samaritans,  37. 

Samson  b.  Abraham  of  Sens, 
389,  639,  365. 

Samuel    (Amora),  98. 

Samuel  Ashkenazi,  340. 

Samuel  of  Falaise,  636. 

Samuel  b.  Hophni,  2,  13,  225, 
281,  130,  131,  132,  290, 
291,  426,  427. 

Sandler,  N.,  379. 

Saphir  (or  Sappir?),  Jacob,  337, 
409. 

Sar  Shalom  Gaon,  51. 

Sarah,  337. 

Sarjadah,  sons  of,  290. 

Sarjadah,  Aaron,  4,  112-117, 
240,  241,  250,  120,  131,  266, 
123,  125-128,  280,  290, 
394*  426,  428. 

Sassanids,  94,  102. 

Satanow,  Isaac,  405. 

Schapira,    M.  W.,  348. 

Schechter,  S.,  4,  5,  7,  11,  12,  13, 
15,  16,  17,  68,  78,  88,  105, 
119,  121,  122,  151,  174,  179, 
183,  184,  194,  286,  305,  347, 
361,  362,  366,  452,  317,  3^4, 
33^>  336,  340-342,  345- 
348,  351-354,  381,  384, 
386,  391,  392,  396,  399» 
400,  402,  407,  410-414, 
418,  422, 

Schmiedl,  Adolf,  311,  485,  328, 

377,  379. 

Schnurrer,  Chr.  F.,  319. 
Schopenhauer,  191. 
Schorr,  J.  H.   (Osias),  27,  485. 
Schorstein,  N.,  323. 
Schreier,  B.,  319. 


Schreiner,  M.,  134,  136,  530,  643, 
378. 

Schroter,  R.,  318,  320. 

Schwab,  Moise,  305. 

Schwarz,  A.,  428. 

Schwarzstein,  J.,  310,  315,  329. 

Seligsohn,   M,,   387. 

Seneca,  499. 

Seybold,  C  F.,  375. 

Shabbetai  Donnolo,  44. 

Shalom  b.  Mishael  Gaon,  106. 

Sheerit,  421,  427. 

Shelah,  31,  230,  659. 

Shem  Tob  Palquera,  279,  592*, 
366. 

Sherira  Gaon,  9,  10,  18,  64,  65, 
147,  192,  194,  202,  99,  102- 
106,  220-222,  224,  226,  228, 
229,  232,  III,  239,  240,  258, 
271,  273,  275,  126,  278,  280, 
129,  281,  130,  276,  343, 
344^  4^4- 

Sidersky,  D.,  162,  164. 

Simon   Duran,  385, 

Sionita,  Gabriel,  308. 

vSirach,  270. 

Sirach,  Book  of,  198. 

Slouschz,   N,,  403. 

Slucki,  D.,  455^  371. 

Society  of  Jewish  Immigrants, 
408. 

Sokolow,  N.,  4,  410. 

Solomon  (King),  180,  293. 

Solomon  b.  Adret,  280,  593. 

Solomon  Algazi,  342. 

Solomon  b.  Elijah  Sharbit  ha- 
Zahab,  331. 

Solomon  Ibn  Gabirol,  153,  351, 
361,  bottom, 

Solomon  Norzi,  309. 

Solomon  Ibn  Parhon,  278,  590. 

Spiegel,  H.,  393,  325. 

Stein,  L.,  379. 

Steinitz,  L.,  151. 

Steinschneider,  M.,  3,  22,  23,  34, 
27,  34,  35,  36,  37,  41,  45,  46, 


442 


SAADIA  GAON 


69,  71,  72,  75,  7^,  77,  82,  84, 
85,  102,  133,  134, 135,  151,  191, 
194,  195,  207,  240,  241,  278, 
281, 282, 292,  293,  295,  299,  300, 
303-305,  308,  323,  324,  333, 
341,  342,  357,  359,  372,  37^, 
387-390,  394,  402,  403,  405, 
411,  422,  430,  436,  437,  452, 
455,  455%  461,  479,  480,  483, 
514,  532,  572,  574,  576,  578, 
580,  582,  584,  585,  589,  592, 
592%  596,  599,  606,  607,  611, 
616,  622,  631,  636,  640,  652, 
306,  307,  312,  3I3»  315- 
318,  320-335.  338-342, 
344-351,  353-370,  373- 
377,  379-381,  383-389, 
395-401,     403-408,      426, 

427. 

Stern,  G.,  594- 

Stern,  Ludwig,  191. 

Stoics,  189. 

Strack,  H.,  399. 

Sulzberger,  M.,  151,  413. 

Tabbarani  ha-Medakdek,  36. 

Tabernacle,  186,  187. 

Tal,  G.,  191. 

Talmud,  148,  157,  159,  161, 
162,  164,  i6s,  184,  197, 
461,   335,   518,   382. 

Tarn   (see  Jacob  Tarn). 

Tanhum  Jerushalmi,  241. 

Tannaim,  97. 

Tatnai,  385. 

Taubeles,  S.  A.,  3,  191. 

Templer,  B.,  380. 

Thabit  b.  Kurrah,  37. 

Thales  of  Miletus,   181. 

Theodor,  J.,  500,  528\ 

Tibbonides,  288,  631. 

Tisserant,  E.,  311. 

Tobiah  b.  Eliezer,  286,  288, 
629. 


Tobit,  Book  of,  332. 
Tosafists,  287,  624,  636,  289. 
Tschernowitz,  Ch.,   151. 
Tycocinsky,  H.,  597. 
'Ubaid  Allah,  y2,  yy,  100. 
'Ukba,  103. 
Vogelstein,  H.,  648. 
Weil,  Gustav,  255,  260. 
Weill,  Michel  A.,  520,  375. 
Weiss,  I.  H.,  18,  2^,  48,  191,  271, 

281,  357,  328,  351. 
Wertheimer,     S.     A.,    360,    452, 

337,  i4Z^  349,  355,  397- 

Wiener,  Max,  481. 

Wolff,  M,  328,  372,  374,  377. 

Worman,  E.  J.,  48,  49. 

Wiinsche,  August,  509*. 

Wiistenfeld,  P.,  4,  Z7,  38,  77,  100. 

Wunderbar,  Reuben  J.,  400. 

Yahuda,  A.  S.,  344,  5«0. 

Yannai,  13,  44,  50,  139. 

Yehudai  Gaon,  272,  573. 

Yellin,  D.,  418. 

Yom-Tob  Kahana  Gaon,  106. 

Zedekiah,  133. 

Zedekiah  b.  Abraham  'Anaw, 
625. 

Zedner,  Josef,  191. 

Zemah  b.  Hayyim,   194. 

Zemah  b.  Joshua,  153. 

Zemah  b.  Kafnai,  123. 

Zemah  b.  Paltoi,  51,  272. 

Zemah  b.  Shahin,  107,  108,  243. 

Ziyad  b.  Halfun,  77. 

Ziyadat  Allah,  47. 

Zuckermandel,  M.  S.,  513. 

Zunz,  L.,  18,  41,  84,  195,  331, 
334,  342,  343,  458,  513,  598, 
329,  333,  335,  339,  340, 
341,  351,  365,  367,  368, 
407. 


INDEX  OF  TITLES 


OF    SAADIA'S    ARABIC    WRITINGS    MENTIONED   IN    THE    BOOK 
(Mostly  in  Transliterated   Form) 


rxn^iK  i«nr«,  427. 
nyni^x  D^?:D^«,  163,  345. 
niDii  tbxD^K,  343,  344. 
njtj'o  lyiDi  D^yiT  dkd^^,  344. 
n^t^D^'i^  6nd^«,  344. 

D^i<y^x  rnn  nxn,  456. 
^-ly^x  n«n,  456. 
n^nin^i?  nxn,  456. 
nxsi'Kn,  423,  427. 
1KDJ«^&<  in,  397. 

ri-iyDD/X  y^xntJ^,  400. 
nxnt^^x  n«nD,  316,  407. 

nt<*i,  25,  67,  119, 293,  167, 
391,  398,  411,  416,  440,  442, 
443,  193-362,  265-268, 
576-578, 592,  618,  289,  290, 
315,  321,  323-326,  345, 
350,  359-376,  378.  385. 
389,  398,  400,  401. 

5'«h»>?^x  nt^n^,  388. 

nt^rjDx^x  ni^n^,  402. 

^^5^vnD^<^^<  n^?n^,  317. 

nxsnyt^^K  nxnij,  388,  394. 

nu,  330. 

.  .  .  ^Kt33K  yoj^x  3i<n3,  427. 
iniD^^  ri^n^x  yo3  3x113,427. 
rxiEj'^N*  Vf:iii  nxn^,  427. 
Hi^v^x  3i3i  3«n3,  330,  427- 
inr  n«n3,  456. 
niKD^t?   3i<nD^«,   269,   387, 

389,  394. 
riDDn^N  n^tD  n^^riD,  320. 
niD")D^«  n«nD,  163,  347. 


Di^-'p^x  >^y  -in^x  iDD  nxDD, 

401. 
piK^n^x  n«n3,  391,  402. 
iiD^n^x   ^^t<   ^5io^«  3xnD, 

159,  341,  400. 
nnxiD^t?  nxDD,  353, 163, 164, 

376,  400,  348. 
Hk^jd^j^  nxriD,  347. 
nny^5<  n«nD,  352,  381. 
y^Nitj'^x   i^y   Dx^p^N    nxnD 

n^yoD^x,  400. 
^5^n^t<  nn^n  ^^y  in^«  dndd, 

153,  387,   198,  446,  211, 

267  f.,  384-387. 
^o^<nno^i<   >^y   nn^x   nxna 

266,  384,  402. 
nnpxD   I3«   ^^y  n!='j5  35<r)D, 

265,  349,  382. 
py  ^^y  m^K  nxriD,  46,  53, 

58,  263,  380,  422. 
p^t<hY!^t?i  Kixntj'^N  3t?nD,  163, 

370,  276,  345. 
^jxiny^K  nytJ'^N  nxDD,  139. 
yi<nti^^fc<  nxriD,  342,  400. 
inxn^N*  3«nD,  172,  393,  353, 

396. 
ninr«"i  nns^n  nxriD,  418. 

ri^y,  400. 

T^^DD^N   nt^DD,   293,  263,  380- 
383,  385,  400. 

n^non^K  nxn::,  320. 
!^nyn^x  nxnD,  321. 
^an^Ni  t^^:n!?x  2nD,  297,  396. 
nj^^«  (n«nD)  nnD,  45,  293. 
139.  297,  303,    192,   271 

277»  583,  307,  395. 

443 


444 


SAADIA  GAON 


mnDi  ns^roD  "ivddo,  348. 

5'^«D0,  350. 

itry  nn  10  ^^KDo,  427. 
nnD^j<  3x^0  ""s  n^«Po,  399. 
n^mn^x  '^^'p^^)^,  456. 
mniD,  338. 

396. 

Nni^i<  ^D  ^ip.  163,  164,  347. 

(Hmn^j?)  m^,  145. 
(nmn^?)  n^nD  n^^,  145,  316. 
ptro  ntj^ya  ni^,  312. 

I^^IP^X,  308. 

:!xr],  309. 

nnx^o  mnx  "i^ddd,  162, 366, 

344,  397. 
mo   nnj^  n^Dsn,  315,  347. 

396,  4.27. 

IID^n^K  DKD^X  I^DDD,  343, 
344. 

m^v"*  niD^n  n^Dcn,  427. 

HEBREW 

ni<n  it^'ni  •'t^s:  n^sx,  338. 

D^DIDI^^Dn   |3«,  404. 

n"i:5<,  3,  39»4i,43,  45,50,  53, 
293,  138,297,  149,  387,  412% 
548,  271,  306,  307,  387. 

nnmn  T\^m  rii:i5^,  407. 
nnvD  nn  nvnix,  339. 
nnriTx,  150,  152,  316,  331, 

335. 
noti'j  ^n^«,  333. 
DiPD  n>  D^n^N,  338. 
nx^n  mDJ<,  346. 
Dnytj^  nyaix,  151,  169,  387. 

352,  397,  415,  416. 
niK^pn,  153,  154,  331,  S3^' 
niD^nn  ^D"n,  342. 
mjyK^in.  149,333,334. 
m:  m^^n,  293,  163,  349,  397- 
r\?^^  ni3^n.  369,  397. 
HD^ntr  niD^n,  347,  349. 
p^Dn  mD^n,  397. 


D^DDK'Dn  n^i^i  n^Dcn,  314, 
396,  427. 

153,  341. 

7\^V^^  T'DDn,  317. 

n«nD^«  n«nD  "i^Dcn,  44,  58, 
64,  151,  293,  297,  141,  303, 
177-193,  198,  446,  203, 
204, 506, 548, 576,  280, 603, 
284,  609,  288,  290,  307, 

315,    349,    355-359,    362, 
398,  400,  427, 

327. 

^i^:in  iDD  n^DDD,  391. 

140,  307. 

nvny^x  n^Dcn,  163,  315,  346, 
396. 

ni<D^D^«    nti'y^K   I^DDD,   406- 

408. 

nnmn  mtry  n^Dcn,  407. 
(Hmn^K)  n^DEiD,  143,  145. 

TITLES 

mDpn,  149,  336. 

r\''ivri  nm  "-ni,  154,  332,  3^3. 

nrnixn  ^y  nnnn,  339. 
niy^pn  ^oyo,  315,  335. 
min  nn^,  309. 

D^DIP^   167,  334,  350  f. 

nin^n  noj^o,  456. 

nniK^nn  nsDo  DnoKD,  363. 

nn^ny  i^^d.  405. 

^:iotj^n  ^Jn  n^:ia  173,  355. 

ixrnn  ni^na  349.  408. 

pxj  n^iv^  3n3c,  402. 

\>'\"\p^r\  DDx^o,  405. 

nrrnxn  p:iD,  339. 

HjinD  mjriD,  163,  348. 

nnyo  nn  iiPJ,  303,  395. 

pj^i  nnyo  m  nno,  147-150, 
167,  171,  290,  316,  329- 
335,  338,  350,  427. 

ninyn  (mo)  mo,  169,  352. 


INDEX  OF  TITLES 


445 


nnmn  ^^v  ''?v  nnvv^  mo, 

336. 
D^x^DNi  D^xjn  mo,  357, 173, 

354,  397. 

nin^^D,    I49»    151,    154.   334- 

rriynni  n^Jicxn  nco*  202, 292, 
280,  382,  461,  462,  603, 
607,  284,  285,  636,  289, 
315,  327,  340,  366,  369- 
377, 385. 

nif'm:in  nsD,  404. 

'''i^:in  1QD,  239,  115,  119,  293, 
297, 382, 387, 173, 524,  268- 
271,  650,  306,  353,  354, 

355,  384,  385,  387-394, 
396,  402,  417. 

nnDnn  nsD,  264,  380. 
nm^  r]'?:D)  inDT  noD,  151,  86, 

184,  168,  169,  352,  415- 

418. 
mntoi  n«»D  nsD,  163,  348. 
i)wr]  nsD,  266,  384. 
niK^n^n  nso,  344. 
innon  nsD,  264,  380. 
Dnyi^n  nao,   183,    184,  169, 

387,  352,  415-417. 
ni:non  iqd,  163,  348. 
iPniDHi  nnsn  ncD,  367. 
niny  idd,  396. 
msi^nD  nsD,  456. 
nnDc^  nsD,  345. 
nncni  n^nnn  nao,  363-367. 

362. 
mny,   149,  330,  331,  334* 
338. 

nn^t^  n5>>y,  315,  403. 
ni^Ktj^  nit^^v,  364. 
inn^  n^Ts,  336-338. 
nnvD  i:m^  dvd,  339. 

P1DD,  330,  332. 

(nrn"i«n  n^tj^  '?v)  tj^na,  156. 
«inn  Kin  DDDD  ^y  t^ns,  162. 


xy^vo  «nn  fiddd  ^y  tj^nc,  162. 
n^DD  '?v  nt^3  nnyo  nn  tj^na 

niDin,  352.  161,  162,343. 
nn«^    Dn^D    •'"m   ^y   ti^ns 

nnyo  n^D^no,  283,  648, 

327. 
^N^:n  tj^ns,  404. 
nnnD  mo  '?v  K^ns,  162, 365, 

387, 590,  343. 
HD^D  nDDo  ^y  t^ns,  162. 
ni^v  nsD  tJ^nD,  622,  404. 
nn^n  nso  tj>ns,  405. 
D^nDS  riDDD  ^y  t^^ns,  162. 
nnD   nntry  tj^^ti^  t^ns,  352, 

159, 357, 548,  342,  405. 
niJi^t^n  1QD  inDD,  361. 
moi^n  inriD,  405. 
ninyn  (isd)  innD,  346. 
ni^  nmn  ni^D  D^yc^n  inns 

p,s<:i  nnyo,  307. 
^^2vr\  \'\^'?  ninv  (idd),  299. 
K^ipn  ptj'^  ninv  (idd),  299. 
n^:!  nnyo  ijni  c^^ns  Dy  n^np, 

335. 
nitj^i,  335. 

nry^x  ^nn  ni^j^t^,  365, 
riD^n  nynti',  396. 
nrnixn  ^y  n^tj',  154-157,  548, 

300,  339,  409. 
n^^^n  ^^^,  323,  3^4- 
D^tj^m  ntj^y  dosj^,  322,  405. 
tj^nnn  nyti^,  456. 
Dwn  nytj^,  456. 
yn^n  iv^,  456. 
pnvn  ny^i^,  456. 
nriDin,  151,  153,  338. 
^)i\>n  ijm  nn^in,  173,  354. 
ni:3nn,  149.  i5o»  334. 
ppn,  408. 

D^DD>^^  HPn,  300. 

Iiti^^^    nnmn    n'l^v   D^nn, 

••nny,  408. 
niVD  ;i"nn,  150,  548,  330. 


Only   when    the    Hebrew    alone   is  quoted. 


446 


SAADIA  GAON 


lyitDH  ^y  nii^j^n,  384. 
nnitrn,    165-167,   387,   290, 
349. 

n:  ^y  . . .  cp^inn  ^y  nnit^ri 

r\:i^,  399. 
n^iVD  i:ni  nnisi^r),  364. 
nnyo   i:nn^   ni^x^   mn1t^♦n 

nxa,  364. 

Bible  (translation  and  commen- 
taries in  general)  141-146, 
162,  176,  308-311 ;  Penta- 
teuch (translation  of)  306, 
146,  400,  402,  316  ;  Genesis 
(commentary  on),  293,  416, 
198,  446,  312,  313,  426; 
Exodus  198,  446,  313,314* 
351,  426,  428;  Leviticus 
314,  315,  335,  426,  428; 
Deuteronomy  315  (but  see  p. 
426);  Earlier  Prophets  316; 
Isaiah  293,  317;  Jeremiah 
and    Ezekiel    318;     Minor 


Prophets  318;  Psalms  146, 
400,  576,  318-320;  Proverbs 
293,  307,  146,  400,  418,  315, 
320 ;  Job  146,  400,  418, 
198,  446,  321 ;  Five  Scrolls 
321-325;  Daniel  325;  Ezra 
and  Nehemiah326;  Chron- 
icles 327. 

Couplet  on  Purim,  339. 

Diary,  fragment  of,  60  ff..  422, 
425. 

Letters,  fragments  of,  54  ff., 
64,  81,  168,  82,  84,  177, 
169,  352;  410-413,  418, 
422, 425. 

Mishnah,  commentaries  on,  642. 

Recipe,  299. 

Refutation  of  Ben  Asher,  399. 

Refutation  of  Daniel  Al  Kumisi, 
387,  384,  399. 

Refutation  of  Ben  Zuta,  384, 
398. 


6^  'fil^ 


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